Animals Neglected at Marineland

Workers turn a blind eye to poor conditions

By: Oxana Tsirelman, Online Editor

via ashwin kumar, Flickr

Marineland, located in Niagara Falls, is one of the most publicized amusement parks in North America today. The conditions in its facilities have sparked a nationwide controversy that touches the heart of every animal owner in the country. It certainly touches mine, which is why I feel it is my civic duty to report this.

A former supervisor in Marineland reports that “it got so bad that I didn’t even have to test the water when I arrived in the morning. I could tell just by looking at how sick the animals were. If you don’t look at them, there’s no problem. What hurt me most is those animals in those pools. They can’t go anywhere. They can’t get out. They’re stuck.”

“The animals were in hell,” says a former senior trainer at Marineland, Phil Demers. He even quit his job due to his overwhelming guilt and feelings of helplessness for the animals.  Former Marineland employees reported that walruses were kept in solitary waterless cages. Zeus, one of the walruses, was often alone in his cage because of understaffing.

Some possible solutions to this problem include investing money towards improving conditions in the park, or possibly relocating these animals altogether.

“There are some issues that we need to follow up on,” says Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Inspector DesRoches states that “any concerns the OSPCA would have, we would give Marineland a timeline to rectify. The removal of animals is always possible.”

On Thursday, the Gomez family decided to pay a visit to Marineland, in spite of Kassandra Gomez’ reservations in light of the controversy.  “I personally only came for my little brother. I didn’t exactly want to come because of everything that was going on,” said Kassandra Gomez. “I personally didn’t tell anyone I was coming here. I just said I’m going to Niagara Falls,” added Samantha Gomez.

But that’s not all. Last weekend countless people stood outside Marineland protesting against this injustice after several former park employees reported that animals were being neglected. One of the ways in which the animal’s neglect can be seen is that they are forced to be in poor water, which causes skin and eye problems.

In fact, the Gomez family saw an animal in distress with their own eyes, while workers seemed to not even take notice.

“We went into the area, I guess where the retired mammals are and we did notice that one mammal was completely blind and when we got there his fin was actually bleeding,” said Samantha.

With several eye witness accounts and inspector reports, it is clear that these animals are in need of serious help. If you are as outraged as I am, or know of any further evidence against Marineland, take a stand against this terrible neglect and contact OSPCA today.

Sources:

Eyewitness News
Global Animal
Metro News

ARB Team
Arbitrage Magazine
Business News with BITE.

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