By: Laura Goldman
November 3, 2017

For many years, advocates have voiced their concerns about the welfare of the captive animals at Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ontario.

In November 2016, the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (OSPCA) filed five animal cruelty charges against Marineland in regard to the theme park’s failure to provide prescribed standards of care for its bears, guinea hens and a peacock. Two months later, the OSPCA filed six additional animal cruelty charges related to the treatment of the park’s elk, red deer and fallow deer.

Marineland called the charges a “publicity campaign at the behest of a band of discredited activists with little relevant expertise or knowledge.”

All 11 animal cruelty charges were dismissed in August by the Crown in Provincial Offences Court, which said there was no “reasonable prospect” of conviction for eight of the charges and the other three were…