He largest marine park in EuropeMarineland, closed its doors this Sunday and seeks how to rehome 4,000 animals, especially two orcas, Wikie23 years old, and his son Keijoof 11, whose destination is much more complicated and who could end up in the Canary Islands.
One last show took place this Sunday, the last day of the Christmas holidays, to put an end to more than half a century of activity of the park, which opened in 1970 and is located in the tourist beach town of Antibes, on the Côte d’Azur. The 2021 law that Bans shows with cetaceans from 2026 and the progressive decline in the number of spectators (in the last ten years it has gone from 1.2 million annually to 425,000) have led the management to close the
The park recalled in the December statement in which it announced the closure that 90% of visitors come to see the shows with orcas and dolphins, so The new legislation “forces Marineland to consider closing.”
“The public has evolved in their vision of this type of shows with animals… that are not natural,” said the Minister of Ecological Transition, Agnés Pannier-Runacher, today in statements to the BFM channel. “It is a trend that is emerging at the international level,” added the minister, who pointed out that her department is studying, together with the park management, the possible options for the two orcas Wikie and Keijo.
Waiting for proposals
The release option to the two cetaceans in the sea was discarded quickly, since it is considered that they could not survive on their own in the natural environment. For this reason, the park initially proposed sending the orcas to a park in Japan, but the Ministry of Ecological Transition opposed it.
Pannier-Runacher justified this refusal this Monday in the “fragile” state of orcasfor whom moving thousands of kilometers to Japan “would entail a significant risk to their health.” Furthermore, he recalled that “Japanese parks are not subject to the same requirements as European parks” regarding the protection of cetaceans.
A Marineland spokesperson told the newspaper Le Parisian that the ministry suggested the option of a marine park on the Spanish island of Tenerifein the Canary Islands archipelago, although he stressed that “it is just one track among others.” Although the animal protection association One Voice, very active in this case, has raised the option of a natural sanctuary in the Canadian province of Nova Scotiaalthough it is not yet operational
Asked about these options, Pannier-Runacher avoided making a clear statement and said that It is Marineland who “must make proposals” to the ministryalthough he stressed that “today, there is no sanctuary in the world capable of hosting two orcas.”
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