Canadian theme park Marineland said Friday it would have to euthanize its beluga whales after the Canadian government prevented it from exporting them to a park in China. Photo courtesy Marineland/Instagram
Oct. 7 (UPI) -- A shuttered Canadian amusement park said that without an infusion of cash it will have to euthanize 30 beluga whales after a government official blocked it from sending the marine mammals to a Chinese theme park.
Marineland, the aquatic theme park located in Niagara Falls, Ontario, laid out the dire situation in a letter Friday to Canadian Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson, The New York Times reported.
Thompson announced days earlier that she denied Marineland's request to export the belugas to Chimelong Ocean Kingdom theme park in China because it "would have meant a continued life in captivity and a return to public entertainment."
She further said that she was following requirements of the Fisheries Act meant to prevent the exploitation of marine mammals.
