All animal cruelty charges laid by the Ontario Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals against Marineland have been dropped by the Crown, citing no reasonable chance of conviction. Marineland also released a statement, saying the company had suffered "reputational damage" from "five years of baseless accusations by ill-informed, radical activists." "The Crown conducted its own independent review of the OSPCA charges and has effectively agreed with Marineland by determining all the charges ought to be withdrawn." Marineland was facing 11 animal cruelty charges relating to the treatment of the park's land animals, including black bears, elk, red deer, fallow deer, guinea hens and a peacock. Marineland denied any wrongdoing, saying its herds of elk, red deer, fallow deer and bison are "uniformly healthy, well fed, with good coats."

Source: CBC News August 10, 2017 14:34 UTC