Beluga trainer fired by Marineland speaks out

“We need to get them out,” Burgess said of Canada's last captive whales. “Immediately.”

Burgess talks about her experience at Marineland for the first time as the very whales she loved now face possible death.

Nineteen beluga whales, one dolphin and one killer whale have died in the park since 2019, according to a database compiled by The Canadian Press using internal documents and official statements.

The beluga whale pools, Arctic Bay and Friendship Bay, are in desperate need of repairs, with their painted walls peeling and chunks of concrete falling into the water, Burgess said.

“The whales came with bits of paint on their tongues,” she said. “The pools are falling apart.”

She said rocks from the pool decorations spilled into the tanks, providing some pleasure for the whales, who like to play with them or try to eat them, she added.

“We've had cases where people have had to dive into the water and fish out very large, heavy rocks, perhaps the size of a dinner plate,” Burgess said.

The water system breaks down regularly, affecting the park's ability to release and lift water, which is critical to providing medical care to the whales, Burgess said. That has led to delays in treating the whales or to trainers taking extra risks to get into deeper waters to help, she said.

Marineland did not respond to multiple requests for comment with detailed questions about Burgess' allegations.

The park, which was once a tourist attraction, is now in crisis after the federal government denied permission to export 30 beluga whales to the Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, a huge aquarium in China. The park said it is nearly broke and has no other viable options to rehome the whales.

Fisheries Minister Joan Thompson said she rejected the export request because she did not want to expose the beluga whales to further exploitation in captivity, in line with a federal law passed in 2019.

Marineland then wrote to the minister asking for emergency funds to feed and care for the whales, saying he was running out of money and would otherwise have to euthanize them.

Burgess said she wants Thompson to reconsider her decision. She believes that the minister is out of touch with the reality of the situation.

“The minister and everyone else keep saying, 'Well, they might not succeed if they move to China,' or that they'll perform or breed, but the reality is I'd rather see them try, and (if) they don't make it and pass the exam, fine, but at least they'll try,” she said.

“What's the best plan to leave them in Marineland? They'll either slowly die there or be euthanized because someone wants to make money off the land they're sitting on.”

Thompson's office said the minister made it clear that the decision to deny export permits was made in accordance with the law and “with the best interests of beluga whales in mind.”

Thompson called on Marineland to develop a new plan and said she would quickly consider any proposal.

Marineland founder John Holer died in 2018, and his wife Marie ran the park until her death in 2024. The estate was transferred to trust management.

The animals have become a selling point for the park, even though its vast grounds are worth hundreds of millions of dollars, perhaps more.

Marineland has become a political hot potato, with the federal and provincial governments pointing fingers at each other to help beluga whales. Premier Doug Ford said Ottawa created the mess, while Thompson said the health and welfare of the whales was the province's responsibility.

Ontario is responsible for enforcing animal welfare laws and has been conducting a major investigation into Marineland since 2020. Inspectors visited the park more than 220 times and issued 33 compliance orders.

Water in the park has long been a problem.

The province has four long-outstanding orders against Marineland. They are focusing on water quality, water system maintenance and repairs, proper record keeping of whales and dolphins, and the condition of enclosures and enrichment levels for dolphins, seals and sea lions, the Ministry of the Solicitor General said.

In 2021, the province declared all marine mammals in Marineland in distress due to poor water conditions. Marineland disagreed and appealed the ruling, but then withdrew it.

Marineland has remained silent in recent days since a funding request deadline expired last week. The province confirmed Thursday that the whales were still alive but did not provide any other details.

Until recently, Burgess was a lifelong Marineland fan. She remembers being amazed by the park when she visited it at age seven. By the age of 15, she had worked at the park's main restaurant, Hungry Bear, for two summers.

She applied for another job at Marineland and finally got it in 2022. She started out as a whale care worker, which involved preparing meals from frozen fish. The diet of belugas is based on herring, capelin and smelt.

Burgess was soon appointed assistant marine mammal nurse. Then she became a beluga whale trainer.

Over time, the workload weighed on Burgess. She said the park was short-staffed at the time she worked there, with 18 people working at both beluga whale pools. Whales require daily care, so breaks, different shifts, days off and illness mean that hands-on care for the animals can be done by five to seven people, she said.

“It’s not even close to enough,” she said.

During her three years at Marineland, seven beluga whales and the park's only killer whale, Kiska, died.

Burgess said the deaths have taken a toll on trainers and caregivers at Marineland, who work year-round in all weather conditions for long, tiring hours.

“They're tired, they're carrying the burden of all the grief they've seen over the years, and they're very exhausted, but they still show up and do the best they can,” she said. “And they get paid pennies.”

Burgess said she was paid $18.50 an hour as a full-time trainer, compared to the $17.50 she made as a caregiver. Some of the senior trainers make just over $20 an hour, she said.

She wants the public to know more about the remaining beluga whales in Marineland.

There is Xena, the matriarch of the capsule.

“Her age is not slowing her down,” Burgess wrote in a Facebook post with annotations about each whale. Xena is the mother of two children born at the park: Eve, a more reserved beluga whale who “giggles” when she makes sounds, and Xavier, the pack's “nerd” who is “extremely intelligent and loves challenging games,” Burgess wrote.

“Some beluga whales are more dominant, while others are more submissive,” she explained.

“They are very loving, show affection and form very close social bonds with each other,” she said.

Parts of the 2019 law banning captivity have had a detrimental effect on the whales, she said. Ottawa has banned breeding, so Marineland has had to separate males and females because there is otherwise no birth control for beluga whales.

This caused problems when beluga whale families were separated.

“Males, when they're hormonal, they become very aggressive towards each other,” Burgess said, citing the example of whale rake – scraping their teeth against other beluga whales, resulting in permanent scarring.

“The raking was taken to the extreme,” she said.

“The females are very skittish and nervous, whereas before, when males were present, they were much more confident.”

Burgess said Marineland's threat to kill all whales hit the park like a bomb because it is still close to many of the park's employees.

But she said it was not a real threat.

“It’s disgusting, but neither veterinarians nor caregivers would do it,” she said.

Mass euthanasia is “crazy,” she said, and even if there were workers willing to do it, it would take days. She said euthanasia is difficult for workers, even when it is necessary – as in February.

Eos, a seven-year-old young beluga, was experiencing difficulties at the time. Burgess said the whale had been sick since birth and euthanizing it was the right decision.

Burgess has developed a deep connection with Eos since she became one of her guardians last year. Eos had difficulty eating, so Burgess spent hours trying different ways to get food to the whale.

Despite the efforts of the workers, life began to slip away on Eos.

“I wanted to see her body, so I had closure because the previous whales, when they left, I would come to work and they would just leave and you just had to carry on,” Burgess said through tears.

She didn't want that with Eos, so she insisted on taking part in the process. “I was able to see her, hug her and say goodbye.”

Burgess said Marineland fired her in early March, shortly after The Canadian Press learned of Eos' death from a park source.

After The Canadian Press sent questions to Marineland, the park confirmed the whale's death on social media.

But Marineland was furious over the leak and began questioning employees, Burgess said. She said she was fired several weeks later and was not initially told why.

Burgess said she was eventually told it was because Marineland was winding down operations, although the park later posted her position on a job site. Burgess provided a screenshot of the ad, but The Canadian Press did not independently review it on the jobs site.

She said she believed she was fired because of the leak, even though she was not the source of the leak.

She tried for months to return to work, but said Marineland refused.

Now she's trying to make sense of the whales' current predicament. All levels of government have failed the whales at Marineland, she said, adding that she wanted to make one point clear.

“Marineland's current despair is the result of choice, not circumstance,” Burgess said.