The black bears at Marineland Canada in Niagara Falls Ontario, reside in a group of roughly 28. Their extremely outdated enclosure is surrounded by water and high concrete walls. They can be seen throughout the day trudging through water and trying to climb the huge concrete wall while guests throw food or objects in their enclosure. We have also never seen any staff present overseeing what guests are doing.

Marineland provides Corn Pops in an ice cream cone which guests can purchase for $2.75 to throw down to these bears while they beg.

Furthermore, the main and immediate issue here is that; bears are generally solitary creatures so being forced to reside in a large social group is unheard of and creates concerning and ongoing aggression amongst them. With guests continuously taunting them, throwing objects in their enclosure and the natural dominating factor bears portray, this is a concern.

SEE LINK (https://www.facebook.com/ontariocaptiveanimalwatch/videos/919025671517926/ )

We would like to know why Marineland appears to be in violation of our current OSPCA Act O. Reg 60/90 and would like to demand an immediate resolution for these bears as it is clear, they are being held contrary to existing legislation. Regulations are as follows:

STANDARDS OF CARE FOR CAPTIVE WILDLIFE

4. (1) Wildlife kept in captivity must be provided with adequate and appropriate care, facilities and services to ensure their safety and general welfare as more specifically set out in subsections (2) and (3) of this section and in sections 5 and 6. O. Reg. 60/09, s. 4 (1).

~ These bears are unsupervised with their entire enclosure open for whatever anyone wishes to be thrown in it and therefore we feel their general welfare and safety could be in jeopardy.

4(3) Wildlife kept in captivity must be kept in compatible social groups to ensure the general welfare of the individual animals and of the group and to ensure that each animal in the group is not at risk of injury or undue stress from dominant animals of the same or a different species. O. Reg. 60/09, s. 4 (3).

~The bears have been observed displaying aggressive tendencies toward each other, including; snarling, growling, fighting, and food aggression. This is a natural behaviour used to establish boundaries, however in an unnaturally large grouping, causes undue stress and can lead to exclusion and bullying of submissive animals, who do not have any possible means of escaping from the more dominant, aggressive animals.

RESOLUTION:

(1) If Marineland are intending to keep 28 bears in 1 enclosure, they need to create at least 5 more separate enclosures of the same size or greater than the existing one in order to maintain an adequate, safe, and appropriate social group. For the size of their only existing closure that stands now, there should only be 5-6 bears in that enclosure alone.

(2) Each enclosure, including the outdated existing one, should have either a barrier to prohibit guests from tossing whatever they choose to in the enclosure OR; staff supervision at all operating hours ensuring this is not occurring.

 SEE LINK (https://www.facebook.com/ontariocaptiveanimalwatch/videos/911121178975042/ )