Canada’s last captive whales received a reprieve from death after the government on Monday conditionally approved a plan to export them to the United States.
Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson met Monday with officials from Marineland, the closed theme park and zoo in Niagara Falls, Ontario, to discuss her plan to move the animals south. The park is in discussions with four American institutions to accommodate its 30 belugas and four dolphins.
“It was a constructive meeting and I gave conditional approval to the export permits,” Thompson said in a statement. statement posted on social media on Monday. “I will issue the final permits once the final required information has been received from Marineland.”
Marineland pleaded with the minister, repeatedly telling her that the park was short of money. The park had told Thompson the animals would be euthanized if export permits were not cleared by Jan. 30, according to a letter she wrote Monday to Marineland and obtained by the Canadian Press news agency.
Marineland said in a statement that it had Thompson’s support in relocating the animals. “We express our gratitude to the Minister and the Canadian government for prioritizing the lives of these remarkable marine mammals,” it reads.
The move comes after Marineland presented what it called an urgent rescue solution to the federal government last week.
The park is reportedly in discussions with Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium, Atlanta’s Georgia Aquarium, Connecticut’s Mystic Aquarium and SeaWorld, which has several locations in the United States.
Tara Walton/The Canadian Press via AP, file 
Ontario Premier Doug Ford supported Thompson’s decision.
“They’ll have a better home than where they are because it’s a terrible home they’re in right now,” Ford said of the animals. “It wasn’t big enough.”
Twenty whales – one killer whale and 19 belugas – have died at Marineland since 2019, according to an ongoing count compiled by The Canadian Press based on internal records and official statements.
In October, Marineland applied for an export permit to move its beluga population to Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, an aquarium in China. Thompson refused these permits, saying she would not subject the whales to a future spectacle in captivity.
This is in line with a 2019 law banning the captivity of whales and dolphins, although the animals at Marineland are grandfathered.
