The Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals will conduct an on-site inspection with sea mammal experts at Marineland after eight former employees told the Star of animal suffering caused by recurring water problems, as well as staffing shortages.

“We’ve got to do what’s best for the animals’ welfare,” said Connie Mallory, chief licensing inspector for the SPCA.

“As soon as the concerns came forward, we started to move the wheels,” to address them, she said Thursday. “We treat very seriously what was brought forward in the paper.”

VIDEO: Behind the scenes at Marineland

Ontario Community Safety Minister Madeleine Meilleur, who oversees the OSPCA, said she was “very concerned” by the Star’s report on conditions at the Niagara Falls attraction.

“I was in tears,” she said in a telephone interview, adding that she “would have preferred” to know about potential problems beforehand and she has asked her staff to monitor closely and follow up.

Meilleur noted that the Liberal government beefed up the OSPCA Act in 2009, but said it may need “to be amended further.”

The OSPCA enforces a provincial act on animal welfare, toughened in 2009, and has the power under the OSPCA Act and Criminal Code to lay charges. Maximum penalties are two years in jail and a fine of $60,000.

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Marineland is privately owned by John Holer and licensed by the self-regulating Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums. In two interviews with the Star, Holer has denied there are problems with water quality at the park and that unhealthy water has harmed marine mammals. He says there are more than enough staff to look after the animals.

There is no government regulation in Canada or Ontario of marine mammal parks or, for that matter, of any animal park.

“The minister should turn her tears into action,” said Newmarket—Aurora Conservative MPP Frank Klees, who has pushed for action on animal abuse issues. “This is just one more example of the government abdicating responsibility in the area of animal welfare.”

Klees criticized the Ontario SPCA Act for not containing standards specific to dolphins and whales.

There’s been a groundswell of public reaction to the Star investigation on Marineland, a major tourist attraction in Niagara Falls. Stories focused on the plight of marine mammals that, according to eight former employees, suffer serious health problems including skin damage, fur loss, impaired vision and even blindness as a result of unhealthy water.

Former employees also blame understaffing for the May death of a baby beluga that was attacked over two hours by two adult belugas. Holer says the calf was attacked because she had meningitis and that animals sometimes kill other animals that fall ill.

Mallory did not reveal details about the timing of the inspection, or which experts will accompany her team. “Absolutely it has to be on-site,” she said.

Niagara Falls Humane Society director Jay DesRoches told the Niagara Falls Review that his agency, for one, would be involved in the investigation “in the very near future.”

Bill Peters, national director of the Canadian Association of Zoos and Aquariums, said his agency has never had a complaint about Marineland. The park’s licence was renewed for five years last September after an on-site inspection, but Peters said the agency may investigate further. In the Star stories, former employees describe problems they say occurred over the period when CAZA did its inspection and renewed the licence. Peters said his team took a “broad view” rather than examine specific issues.

If they missed something, he said, “clearly we have to look at our procedures.”

NDP MPP Cheri Di Novo says it was “absolutely horrifying and scary” to see Star video and read the reports. She called the situation for animals in captivity “the wild west” and called on the province to regulate and oversee the treatment of marine mammals in Canada.

Ontario environmental commissioner Gord Miller called the Star’s report “disturbing, particularly since I’ve been calling for a formal and transparent review of Ontario’s zoo licensing policies for years.”

Allegations of animal suffering at the park go back years. Former trainer Dawn Parliament, who came forward for attribution Thursday, said she resigned in 2005 after 15 years “because animals like (orca) Neocia were being mistreated.” She was a top trainer with Neocia, who died in 2004 at 12, two months after being transferred from the larger Friendship Cove to the small stadium pool. Holer says she died of candida, a yeast infection.

“The price of performing is too high,” said Parliament. “It takes precedence over the animals’ health at times, as was the case with Neocia.”

She and other trainers unsuccessfully opposed the killer whale’s transfer to the stadium pool. They felt the pool was too small, and the move isolated her from four other killer whales in Friendship Cove. Keeping lone orcas in captivity is banned in the U.S. because the highly intelligent mammals require the company of their own species.

Mallory says the Niagara Falls Humane Society has not received complaints about the care of sea mammals at Marineland.

Liberal MPP Lorenzo Berardinetti called for a more “proactive” approach to conditions for animals in captivity, instead of the OSPCA’s complaint-based system. He said that it’s worrisome in relation to whales and dolphins because “they’re extremely intelligent. They have self-awareness. If you put a mirror in front of them, (studies have shown) they recognize themselves.”

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In an interview Thursday with Newstalk 1010, Marineland veterinarian June Mergl said animals shown in pictures obtained by the Star are elderly and are under constant veterinary care. Mergl said eye problems are caused by age, not water quality issues.

She cited a report on pinnipeds (seals, sea lions and walruses) that blames ultraviolet rays for eye issues, especially when the animals lounge about out of the water. Mergl did not return calls from the Star earlier this week, and did not respond to written questions Thursday.

Former trainers say that these animals spend all but brief periods indoors at Marineland, either in the aquarium or the barn, a covered concrete facility with only a skylight.

In a 2008 report on “Captive Pinniped Eye Problems,” U.S. marine mammal specialist Laurie Gage cites UV issues, but concludes that captive pinnipeds “are dependent on the choices we make for them.” She believes ocular disease in captive animals is “preventable” with, among other conditions, “clean water without excessive oxidants or other irritating byproducts, appropriate feeding practices, and wholesome diets that include protective anti-oxidants.”

Naomi Rose, senior scientist with Humane Society International, emailed after seeing the Star’s reports: “The situation is much worse than I imagined for the cetaceans (dolphins and whales) there. The water quality issues alone — based on the eye irritations described — are of serious concern.”

She also cited worries over descriptions of understaffing and said: “It is imperative that a third-party, independent inspection be conducted to prevent any further deterioration of the animal care conditions there.”

Rose disputed the idea that animals kill other animals who are about to die. This idea is “extraordinarily ignorant of toothed cetacean social behaviour,” she said. “In fact … dolphins and belugas are known to show incredible attention and solicitation to animals that are dying.”

There can be exceptions during the mating season, she said, adding that in the wild, females and their young segregate themselves. “In captivity, if males are not kept from calves, then they might do what happened with (baby beluga) Skoot.”

Two adult males attacked Skoot on May 28. She died immediately after the two-hour attack.

Skoot was taken from a pool for females, young belugas and one male and put into another enclosed section with the male belugas and her mother, former trainers say.

“In a word, disgusting,” said marine mammal expert Ric O’Barry, referring to Star stories and video showing scenes the public doesn’t see at Marineland. O’Barry is featured in The Cove, a film on dolphin capture and slaughter that won the 2010 Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. He praised trainers who have come forward to speak on the record, saying: “It takes guts.”

Added O’Barry: “The public really needs to put a stop to this abuse. There are no rules and regulations and it’s hopeless without the Canadian public stepping up and demanding change.”

Also on the Star:

Marineland animals suffering, former staffers say

Heartache for Smooshi the walrus as top trainer quits

Log details reveal water quality issues

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