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First Hand Account: 18.05.12 

“I’m writing to you to express a concern that has come to my attention after spending a day at Marineland in Niagara Falls today. I hope there have been other people who have spoken up as well about Marineland. I have fond memories going there as a child, so I decided to visit it again while on a visit to the Falls this week. However, the excitement was soon replaced by dismay at the conditions of the animals that I saw. It seems to me as if Marineland is trying to transition into more of a theme-park rather than an animal attraction, and thus the welfare of the animals have been seriously compromised. (I could be wrong about the transitioning part, but it seems to have less shows and more rides than I remember.)

Aside from the common complaint of keeping marine animals in tanks and the whales clearly being withheld from food for performance purposes, I found their “less expensive” animals to be in terrible condition. Particularly, the animals that concerned me the most were the fallow deer. They were packed in a completely unnatural, barren enclosure with no park staff supervision. Many were nothing but skin and bones, with their hip bones jutting out in plain sight. (Note: The only source of food I could see was the ones tourists were encouraged to buy. There is a reason why the deer SWARM you for food—they are starving.) There was also no form of shade or a quiet secluded area for the deer. I also noticed about a good portion of them were lame and seemed to have been so for a while. (Are there any regulations requiring veterinary care at all?) Half of the herd was suffering from mange. A few had clear eye infections, or were even blind. There seemed to have been a recent new shipment of deer that looked much healthier, but they were absolutely scared out of their minds at all the people around chasing them.

I urge you, as a local organization who advocates for animal welfare, to please do something about this. I doubt my complaints to the park itself will be heeded at all. I’d hate to know future generations will be taught this sort of treatment of animals is the norm.”