Marineland gets ‘conditional approval’ to move remaining whales and dolphins to U.S.

The announcement comes shortly after Marineland had once again issued an ultimatum threatening to euthanize the whales if the permits were not granted. In October 2025, the federal government previously denied export permits for Marineland’s belugas to a facility in China for animal welfare reasons in a strong display of leadership.

With the passage of Bill S-203 in 2019, Canada promised that this would be the last generation of whales and dolphins in captivity. In that spirit, World Animal Protection and other animal welfare organizations have urged the government to consider a condition of transfer to uphold this legislation, ensuring that the animals would not be bred or used for performances or other entertainment.  

Unfortunately, Marineland’s threat of euthanasia left little choice to the Federal Minister with this application which has made strict conditions like a breeding ban too risky to request. World Animal Protection condemns Marineland’s approach using the lives of these sentient animals as a bargaining tactic.  

We are happy to see that the conditions set out by Minister Thompson will include the independent examination of each whale by a third-party veterinarian and a detailed transfer plan.  

We continue to call for the accredited U.S. facilities to strive for the best overall welfare conditions.  

The tragedy of Marineland is a story that has been decades in the making, and it’s not over yet. Marineland is still home to hundreds of animals across a variety of species, and their future remains uncertain. The Ontario government must now step up and make sure this never happens again.  

Marineland’s decline highlights Ontario’s outdated approach to captive wildlife, where weak zoo licensing laws continue to allow substandard facilities to operate. Now is the moment to finally fix this.