Building the first sanctuary for orcas and beluga whales is truly a global collaborative effort and we are indebted to the support we receive every day from everyone involved in the shared goal of improving the lives of captive cetaceans.
Here’s a shoutout to just a few of the hundreds of people and organizations who have made a difference to the work of the Whale Sanctuary Project in 2024:
Muriel Arnal and her team at One Voice, France, have been working for many years to give whales and dolphins a chance to be retired to sanctuary. In addition to their legal and advocacy work in France, their advice and support have been key to the possibility of retiring Wikie and Keijo, the mother-and-son orcas at Marineland Antibes, to sanctuary.
Hyung-Ju Lee, the founder of AWARE in South Korea, reached out on our behalf to LotteWorld Aquarium, which led to our signing a joint Letter of Intent “to enter a dialogue concerning the relocation of the beluga whale known as Bella” to the sanctuary.
The Honourable Wilfred Moore has been a guiding hand in much of our work to establish the sanctuary in Nova Scotia since his retirement from the Canadian Senate in 2017. Hon. Moore is best known for having introduced the bill that went on to become the Ending the Captivity of Whales and Dolphins Act, which became law in 2019.
Muriel Arnal, Lori Marino & Hyung-Ju Lee, Wilfred Moore, Jane Goodall, Jean-Michel Cousteau, Sylvia Earle, Schluter School students.
Dr. Jane Goodall, in her letter in February 2024 to the French government, strongly endorsed the Whale Sanctuary Project’s proposal for the relocation of the orcas Wikie, Keijo and Inouk from Marineland Antibes to the sanctuary in Nova Scotia. (The death of Inouk, just a month later, only added urgency to the need for Wikie and Keijo to be retired to sanctuary.) Many thanks, too, to Dr. Sylvia Earle and Jean-Michel Cousteau for their support of the outreach to the French government.
The 4th-Grade Students at Schluter Elementary School in Haslet, Texas, were featured by NBC TV news when they sent handwritten pleas to the Minister of Ecology in France. Their letters and drawings explained why the orcas Wikie and Keijo should go to an ocean sanctuary rather than to a zoo in the Canary Islands or an aquarium in Japan. Their teacher, Rachel Friend, has been championing the work of the Whale Sanctuary Project for the past few years through her Wild for Whales learning program.
The Volunteers in our local town of Sherbrooke, Nova Scotia, contributed more than 1,400 hours of their time, energy and incredible passion for whales this year. From welcoming people to the Operations & Visitors Centre to setting up and running the booths at street fairs and other events across the province, they are an integral part of establishing the sanctuary.
The First Nation community and Kwilmu’kw Maw-klusuaqn (KMK) are forming a working group with us. It is intended to foster ongoing collaboration and cultural exchange through the sanctuary’s future Interpretation Centre.
Local Fishers, Luna Sea Solutions, and the Confederacy of Mainland Mi’kmaq planned and supported the successful deployment of the Wine Harbour Buoy, the first near-real time wave buoy on the Eastern Shore of Nova Scotia. Part of a growing network of buoys around Nova Scotia, the Wine Harbour Buoy provides environmental data that is key to our monitoring of the sanctuary site and improves the quality and availability of marine weather information for fishers, oceanographers and the many other communities who live, play and work on the water.
And to all of you who support the Whale Sanctuary Project – whether with major grants to the capital campaign or with your regular donations, large or small. Every donation matters. We greatly appreciate them and together they make this work possible.
Many thanks, too, to the volunteers and advocates of all ages and backgrounds. Your support of this pioneering work has been at the heart of all the progress this year in the myriad of steps that go into the development of the sanctuary.
Thank you again, and a healthy, happy and successful New Year to all.
