Marine park sparks outrage after threatening to euthanise 30 whales

Marineland in Niagara Falls claims it is in a "critical financial situation" which has left it unable to care for the belugas.

Bosses have reportedly written to the country's fisheries minister Joanne Thompson for emergency support after initially requesting to have the animals shipped to Ocean Kingdom, in Zhuhai, China.

Staff claim they can no longer provide suitable care due to a lack of cash, CBS News have reported.

It describes the option of moving them abroad as the "only viable option" but their claim has been rejected by the government.

But now the park has reportedly threatened "the devastating decision of euthanasia" if still unable to pay for their care.

Ms Thompson told reporters last week that "all whales belong in the ocean and not tanks for entertainment purposes."

Read more: Outrage after zoo shoots baboons due to 'overcrowding' and feeds them to predators

Read more: Justin Bieber shocks locals as he films music video in Dundee pub

One orca whale and 19 belugas have died at Marineland since 2019, according to a data produced by The Canadian Press news agency.

Doug Ford, the premier of Ontario province, said: "We need a proper home for them, simple as that," he said.

"We gotta save the whales."

Beluga whales live in the Arctic in the wild and are famed for their pale skin and bulbous foreheads.

They are native to the Arctic Ocean waters, described as "extremely sociable mammals" by the World Wildlife Foundation.

Back in July, a zoo in the German city of Nuremberg culled 12 Guinea baboons due to enclosure overcrowding.

The monkeys were shot, samples were taken for research, and then their bodies were fed to the Tiergarten Nürnberg zoo's predators.

Overcrowding caused "increase in conflicts" between the animals, and there was no alternative option for re-housing them, the zoo said.