It was about 37 years ago that I visited Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ontario, for the first and, until last week, only, time. I was so saddened by the way animals were kept that I wanted never to return. But, when saw that they were opening “Aviary Safari,” billed as covering 100 acres where “you will stroll on a meandering walkway through a forest-like setting” and interact with “free-roaming” birds in a setting that included two man-made lakes and thousands of trees, I felt I had to check it out as I am, after all, well versed in all things ornithological. Rob Laidlaw, head of Zoocheck, agreed to come with me and, on July 5, the last day of a week-long blistering heatwave, we went.
There was no Aviary Safari; work on it had barely begun. Marineland founder, John Holer, had died on June 23, at age 83, and so I fervently hope it never will be built. But, we decided to check the other animals.
While there were a few improvements over what I had remembered from nearly four decades ago, with less crowding of bears, belugas, and deer, I was left stunned and saddened by what I did see. For now, I’ll focus on just one part of one display, called the Aquarium Dome. The “aquarium” consisted of a few commonly kept fish, often misidentified, in fish tanks, aimlessly circling, but in the cool interior there was a small, indoor pool housing four (that we could see) harbor seals. Rob saw the fourth (I only saw two) swimming around in circles, and a third on a bench visible through openings to the back of the public viewing area.
During the half hour that we were there not one of the seals ever opened their eyes! Not once. We thought we could smell chlorine. A study in 2008 indicated that chlorine is potentially harmful to the corneal epithelial barrier of the eye. Later, I asked my friend, Dr. David Lavigne, his opinion since his MSc and PhD were both on vision in seals and he helped maintain captive seals for many years. “They don’t normally close their eyes like that…” he replied. His team never used chlorine.
David’s scientific findings have been instrumental in helping to protect seals, and with regard Marineland, all he wrote was, “The last time I was there, it was a nightmare… and I vowed never to return!”
Whatever the cause, one surely can’t be complacent about effectively blinding seals who, as you read this, are still endlessly circling in their tiny indoor pool, or simply lying on a bench, eyes closed… the big, beautiful round eyes I’ve seen in so many wild seals.
Keep Wildlife in the Wild,
Barry