Send killer whale back to Florida, court tells Marineland

From the Toronto Star:

Ontario’s Court of Appeal has upheld a lower court decision ordering Marineland to return a killer whale to the Florida water park that loaned it out.

In July, an Ontario Superior Court judge ordered the Niagara Falls amusement park to return Ikaika, a 9-year-old male orca, to SeaWorld, the Orlando, Fla.-based owner.

The initial ruling focused on legal technicalities surrounding the “breeding loan agreement” between the two parks.

Marineland appealed the decision, but the appeals court echoed the sentiments of the previous ruling in rejecting its court challenge.

“The breeding loan agreement is not a long term agreement. The maximum term of the loan of Ikaika is only four years and thereafter only a year at a time,” wrote Justice Stephen Goudge, on behalf of a three-member panel.

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