Niagara Falls, ON — A former beluga trainer at Marineland has broken her silence, describing deteriorating conditions at the Niagara Falls marine park and calling for the immediate relocation of Canada’s last captive belugas. Kristy Burgess, who worked at the park until earlier this year, says crumbling infrastructure, chronic understaffing, and a lack of resources have created dangerous conditions for the animals. Her warning comes amid Marineland’s threat to euthanize all 30 of its remaining belugas if it does not receive emergency funding.
Burgess, who worked closely with the whales and witnessed the euthanasia of a young beluga in February, called the park’s threat “repulsive,” accusing management of using the animals as leverage. “We need to get them out — immediately,” she said. According to internal records compiled by The Canadian Press, nineteen belugas, one dolphin, and a killer whale have died at the park since 2019. Burgess described peeling paint, falling concrete, and crumbling decorative rocks in the pools where the belugas live, sometimes leaving the whales with paint chips on their tongues or playing with chunks of debris the size of dinner plates. Repeated breakdowns in the water system have hampered medical care, forcing trainers to take risky measures to treat the animals.
The crisis deepened when Ottawa denied Marineland’s request to export the belugas to Chimelong Ocean Kingdom in China, citing a 2019 federal law that bans breeding and performing in captivity. Fisheries Minister Joanne Thompson rejected the export permits, saying she acted in the whales’ best interests. Marineland then warned it was running out of money and requested emergency funds to avoid euthanizing the animals. Burgess strongly disagrees with the decision to block the transfer, arguing that leaving the whales at Marineland will only lead to prolonged suffering. “How is it a better plan to leave them there? They’ll either die slowly or be euthanized because someone wants to make money off the land,” she said.
The park has been under provincial investigation since 2020, with inspectors visiting more than 220 times and issuing 33 compliance orders related to water quality, maintenance, and animal welfare. In 2021, Ontario declared all marine mammals at the park to be “in distress.” Despite this, Marineland has remained largely silent since its deadline for federal funding passed last week.
Burgess’s personal story reveals a deep bond with the whales. A lifelong Marineland visitor, she joined the park’s staff as a teenager and eventually became a beluga trainer. She described the animals’ personalities in detail, from matriarch Xena’s leadership to Xavier’s playful intelligence, and spoke of the emotional toll of repeated deaths among the whales. “They’re tired, they’re carrying the weight of all the grief they have seen over the years, and they’re spread super thin,” she said of her former colleagues. Trainers, she added, are paid “pennies” — about $18.50 an hour in her case.
Burgess was fired in March, shortly after media inquiries about the death of Eos, a seven-year-old beluga she had cared for closely. She believes she was dismissed in retaliation for the leak, though she denies being the source. Her termination ended a three-year period during which she witnessed seven beluga deaths and the loss of Kiska, Marineland’s lone killer whale.
Marineland’s plight has become a political flashpoint, with the federal and Ontario governments pointing fingers over who bears responsibility for the animals’ welfare. The park’s sprawling property, worth hundreds of millions of dollars, has been difficult to sell because of the animals still on site. Burgess says that behind the scenes, many staff are unwilling to carry out mass euthanasia and that the park’s threats are not credible. “It’s repulsive, but the vets won’t do it, the caregivers won’t do it,” she said.
Her message is unequivocal: the crisis at Marineland is not the result of bad luck, but of deliberate decisions. “Marineland’s current desperation is a result of choices, not circumstance,” Burgess said, urging governments to find a solution that puts the whales’ lives ahead of politics and property disputes.