Update on the orcas at Marineland Antibes and the beluga whales at Marineland Canada
Wikie and Keijo at Marineland Antibes: In our blog post on February 16th, we reported that the French government had rejected our proposal to retire the mother-and-son orcas Wikie and Keijo from the entertainment park Marineland Antibes, which closed in January, to the sanctuary we are establishing in Nova Scotia.
The reasons given by the Minister of Ecology were that a “panel of experts” had told her that the sanctuary waters would be too cold for the orcas – a point which we swiftly refuted with scientific evidence – and that the sanctuary would not be ready in time to accommodate the fact that Marineland Antibes now wants to transfer Wikie and Keijo out of their facility immediately.
While Marineland’s intent is to send the two whales to another commercial facility, the Minister posted on Instagram that she wanted to create a sanctuary “in collaboration with Italy, Spain and Greece.” We responded to this by pointing out that all available data on the temperature ranges suitable for orcas indicate that Mediterranean waters will be too warm for Wikie and Keijo. We added that, regardless, we would still offer our assistance to any viable sanctuary solution and collaborate with any other organization that can provide an alternative to the whales being consigned to another tank environment.
We have heard nothing further from the government, and sources in France believe that Marineland Antibes is expected to send Wikie and Keijo to Loro Parque zoo in the Canary Islands as soon as can be arranged.
The 31 beluga whales at Marineland Canada: Meanwhile, a similar situation is unfolding across the Atlantic, where the future of Marineland Canada (no relation to Marineland Antibes) remains uncertain. The management is looking to consign all 31 belugas, along with dolphins and other marine animals to another entertainment park or aquarium as quickly as possible.
We are in urgent discussions with other animal welfare organizations and legal experts with a view to a hold being placed on any of these animals being exported to other facilities while we explore how many we might be able to accommodate at the Nova Scotia sanctuary and how best to provide for the care of the others.
We will update you on this as soon as we have further news.