“Hey did you hear about that Marineland place? We’ve always heard it was a major league rip-off, but now they’re saying they abuse their animals, too. You live here, what do you think about this”
This was how my first call of the day started. I had no idea just what the guest in question was referring to, but I’d heard the statement before; everyone in Niagara Falls has.
English: MarineLand Logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Bear with me, this one is different, but I should have written it years ago. But I stayed the course and wrote about crazy travelers when I should have been a voice for those who cannot speak for themselves, at least not in a language we can understand, that is. Most people will tell you they “love animals”, but how many of us have the courage to stand behind those words when it counts?
This week, in my hometown of Niagara Falls, there is only one topic of conversation that is “trending” at the grassroots level; the horrific allegations of abuse leveled against local amusement and animal exhibition park Marineland. For decades, locals like myself have heard countless stories from current and former Marineland employees concerning the horrible operating conditions at one of the city’s most popular attractions. The stories always followed the same trend:
- All of the animals have been underfed to the point of malnutrition.
- The sea creatures’ habitats and tanks haven’t been properly maintained.
- The décor and the general “feel” of the park hasn’t changed or been updated for decades. Seriously, its sad.
- Staff members feel they have been treated like something the owner found on the bottom of his shoes.
And that’s where Marineland owner John Holer, appears to have made his greatest tactical error; for decades he has treated his staff worse than the animals they care for and they have had enough. They are now speaking out and the mainstream media is finally ready to listen. In short, there is blood in the water and the sharks are circling.
And their numbers are growing by the day.
The Toronto Star was the first news outlet to turn their attention to Marineland – despite the best efforts of animal activists, no one has ever truly shone a bright enough light on Marineland to warrant the full attention of the world – but they will most certainly not be the last.
At this point it is important to stress one fact: THESE ARE UNVERIFIED ALLEGATIONS. No one has proven anything. However, these allegations have been floating around the city of decades and NO ONE HAS EVER CARED ENOUGH ABOUT THESE HELPLESS SEA CREATURES TO EVEN INVESTIGATE THEM SERIOUSLY.
I deal with dozens of tourists every day who tell me of their plans to visit Marineland and even though I’ve heard the “major-league rip-off” comment before – and experienced it first-hand as a dad accompanying his child on school trips – I ignored them and eagerly recommended Marineland to hundreds of guest over the years. I was just doing my job.
So why do I feel like a complete and total fool?
Related articles
- Marineland animals suffering, former staffers say (thestar.com)
- Marineland denies mistreating animals (cbc.ca)
- Animals endured suffering, former Marineland trainer says (ctvnews.ca)
Thanks for standing up and saying something now. It’s important that this kind of thing gets talked about, or it will just keep on happening.
Very true…
You said it. You were just doing your job. I’m sure your boss would have had something to say if he overheard you saying “yep, the rumours are all true. Stay away”. That being said you are saying something now and we all appreciate it.
Thanks, Leah.
I have never heard of Marineland but it sounds like Hell. Thanks for publicizing it.
You’re welcome.
>So why do I feel like a complete and total fool?
- First off, I’d like to say that I have never liked absolutely *everything* about the few jobs I’ve had. (I liked all my jobs.) So I think it would help if you filed informing your guests about Marineland under the ‘What’s Not-so-hot About My Job’ category.
As for your guests actually following up on your suggestion, that really has nothing to do with you, isn’t it? You do not even lead the horsies to the water, you merely point in the direction of the stream. If they choose to venture thataway, it’s their choice, si?
Allegations and scandals aside, the first thing that comes to mind when I hear the words ‘Marineland’ is fun. Again, I think it is the responsibility of each guest to look deeper and research for things about a tourist sight that might conflict with certain personal views of theirs.
I avoid zoos, animal sanctuaries and such because no matter how close to nature they claim to be and how well looked after the animals appear to my (ignorant about those facts) eyes, I still wish every creature was in their natural habitat and that we could all coexist peacefully. Yeah, a pipe dream I know.
Thank you for bring this point to the fore. I’m not going to be as gung ho to yell along with Chum FM when I hear about that “place I know in On-ta-rio”. I hope this matter is cleared up in every way and that I can, once again, holler “EVERYONE LOOOOVES ….”
Kate
P.S.: To those not familiar, this is the Marineland theme song.
http://www.youtube. com/watch?v=OP-WVMCTR_U
P.P.S.: I’ve broken the link to get past the (over)zealous filters.
The voice behind the song has now taken great strides to distance herself from Marineland. Go figure, right?
I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it to you in the past Mister Hook, but I grew up raising baby animals whose mothers had been hit by drivers and the cubs, pups, baby animals or whatever you want to call them, we raised after people tried to take care of them in their homes feeding baby wild animals with eye droppers, not mixing a proper formula for them they wanted to get rid of them. And the humane society gave our address. We did out best to teach these animals how to find food on their own and all that fun stuff. But we knew that their chances for survival were not as high as if their own mothers were there to teach them all that stuff, but being the bleeding heart people we were for animals, gave them the best start we could. From vaccines that if they even had one litter of cubs, for the next couple of generations, distemper and a few other diseases would not occur.
Some of the larger animals (wolves, deers, bears and such) after about six to eight months of raising it, we packed them up and took them up to Huntsville to an animal sanctuary that sits on a huge plot of land. There were fences around various huge areas of land with some wildlife in there and the woman who runs it (she was old, so maybe ran it?) would toss in a whole bunch of game for the various animals to learn how to hunt.
The deer were hilarious when introduced to some other deer.
The purpose of this facility was rehabilitation.
Regular people could not come and visit the majority of the compound, and the majority of the animals were tagged for research studies on various things for once they were deemed fit to return to the wild.
I had and since then, seen many different animal and wildlife preserves and all that fun stuff, and still that sanctuary in Hunstville remained the best and largest I had ever seen, as the main goal was rehabilitating various animals so they could be taken to a more remote area and survive.
It’s sad, but a lot of it is the human factor. Baby animals are freaking cute!!! So people pick them up and take them home thinking they can raise these babies after they have hit and killed their mothers on a back country road of speeding. Only to find out that these cute little animals… get big. And sharp teeth. And claws. And eat twice as much as you do. And cost so much. And they have wild instincts that you cannot break them of. So they open their doors and shooo them out. Then these raccoons, possoms, skunks, bears, fox, and various other animals are humanised. And they do not fear humans.
But, some of these animals no matter how much rehabilitating- they could never rejoin their natural habitat because of what was done to them. Bears with no teeth or claws cannot fend for themsevles or protect their cubs, Skunks that hand their scent glands removed. Thing s like this. These animals cannot be returned to the wild.
Which is sad.
Marineland as I mentioned in my comment on your other blog… I think the biggest question should be… why hasn’t the government sent in investigators to check this all out after so many people over the years have spoken up and said something? That is a question I’d like answers too.
I mean seriously, if there are any questions about unfit parents, Child’s aid is right there up the parents arse looking for things that are not always there. Harassing teachers are immediately dealt with. A restaurant has food poisoning so health people go in and check things out. What is wrong with this picture?
Wow, you’ve lead quite the life haven’t you, Woman? Thank you for always adding something meaningful to the conversation.