Finding homes for whales and dolphins when parks like Marineland Canada close isn’t easy – a biologist explains why sea sanctuaries aren’t the answer

When Marineland Canada closed in September 2024, its 30 belugas and four dolphins needed new homes, and an international relocation effort scattered them to the U.S. and Spain. Five of those animals died afterward, prompting sanctuary advocates to push for netted ocean pens instead of conventional facilities.

A cetacean biologist argues that sanctuaries carry their own risks: unfamiliar pathogens through porous netting, harder access for veterinary care across 100-acre enclosures, and stress for animals raised in pools rather than open water. Projects in Nova Scotia and Baltimore have spent roughly a decade each failing to build promised sanctuaries, while a Bali attempt and an Iceland beluga sanctuary both produced animal deaths or animals that simply refuse to use the space provided.

The piece notes a 2020 review found pro-sanctuary literature sometimes cherry-picks data to fit an anti-zoo narrative, while ignoring evidence that managed animals have seen welfare gains. The upshot is that good intentions and a big net do not automatically add up to a better life for an animal that has never seen the ocean.

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