Harbor Seals at Marineland with eyes closed due to chlorine.
Photo: Born Free USA

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…