What will occur to the 2 orcas at Marineland Antibes after the closure? | EUROtoday
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LThe countdown has began. On January 5, Marineland d’Antibes will completely shut its swimming pools to the general public. Between a drastic drop in attendance and the November 2021 legislation banning cetacean reveals and captivity, the previous few years have marked the tip of the marine park, owned by the Parques Reunidos group. What destiny now awaits the 4,000 animals on the location? A “colossal relocation plan will be put in place in the coming months,” signifies a Marineland spokesperson. Zoos, dolphinariums or shelters, the target for Marineland is to put its residents “in the best existing structures, with the same standards in terms of animal welfare”.
One query, nonetheless, weighs on folks’s minds: what is going to develop into of Wikie and Keijo, the final two orcas within the park? It is unimaginable, based on consultants, to launch into the wild these marine mammals born in captivity and incapable of looking and feeding. Faced with the growing closure of dolphinariums within the West, the reception choices are actually lowered to a trickle, and the orcas might effectively go from Charybdis to Scylla.
For Marineland, their switch to Kobe Suma Sea World (KSSW) in Japan can be “the best possible option”. From October 2023, the Antibes park signed a contract with this model new Japanese web site geared up with “ultramodern equipment”, with a view to ship the killer whales there. But on November 25, the switch request was refused by the previous Minister of Ecological Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher. The cause: much less demanding Japanese laws on animal safety than in Europe and a grueling journey of 13,000 km. Added to this are swimming pools 3 times smaller than these at Marineland.
The new authorities of François Bayrou, little centered on ecology, might nonetheless change the state of affairs. In the meantime, the Aix-en-Provence Court of Appeal confirmed on December 5 that “the orcas cannot be transferred elsewhere until the conclusions of the legal expertise ordered by the Grasse court at the beginning of the year will not have been returned,” rejoices Muriel Arnal, president of the One Voice affiliation.
The marine sanctuary, the “number one solution”
Another, extra “pragmatic” answer is really helpful by the current report from the General Inspectorate of the Environment and Sustainable Development (IGEDD), printed final October: switch the orcas to the Lore Parque in Tenerife, within the Canary Islands. . Closer to Marineland, this marine park created in 1972 respects European requirements by way of animal welfare. Its swimming pools are, nonetheless, smaller than these of the Antibes park. “And 4 orcas have died there since 2021, aged between 3 and 29,” protests Muriel Arnal, who recollects that “orcas live up to 70 years in the wild.”
Deaths which sadly echo these of Marineland, the place Moana, son of Wikie, died in October 2023 on the age of 12 from bacterial septicemia, whereas his uncle Inouk, 25, died in March 2024 from digestive irritation following the ingestion of a chunk of metallic. In Tenerife as in Japan, Wikie would even be topic to copy. “She could be separated from her son Keijo, and if that were the case, both would die,” worries Muriel Arnal. Orcas stay in households all their lives. We are coping with essentially the most clever animals on the planet. »
For NGOs and Igedd consultants, a switch to a marine sanctuary stays “the best solution” right this moment. A web site in Nova Scotia, Canada, is reportedly able to host Wikie and Keijo. This challenge led by the NGO Whale Sanctuary Project gives a closed 40-hectare arm of the ocean, as much as 18 meters deep, the place marine mammals might stay in semi-freedom. The sanctuary is, nonetheless, nonetheless beneath development and its experimental nature carries dangers. “It is not operational and depends on private donations,” helps the Marineland park, which isn’t contemplating this feature. “The certainty is that another dolphinarium would be the assurance of immeasurable suffering,” insists Muriel Arnal.
For the president of One Voice, there may be urgency. “The orcas are very sick. Wikie, like her brother Inouk before her, has the pulp of her teeth raw from gnawing on the concrete of the pools, which causes great suffering and opens the door to all kinds of illnesses. As for Keijo, a growing teenager, he lost 10% of his weight in one year.” The Marineland park defends itself: “all the judicial and administrative expertise over the last three years carried out by the ministry are unanimous: the orcas are well treated and in good health, just like all the animals in the park”.
Towards a hasty departure?
From now on, a race in opposition to time is underway. Marineland needs to hold out “rapidly the transfer of Wikie and Keijo”, the upkeep prices of which for the 2 mammals quantity to 1,000,000 euros per 12 months. Muriel Arnal additionally justifies this haste by placing ahead the concept of a profitable enterprise: “when we learned last year that the orcas were to leave for Japan, someone very high up in the captivity industry told us informed that they were sold for two million euros each.
“Impossible,” retorts the Marineland spokesperson, “the cetacean trade is illegal. This is a donation. » In any case, as the Igedd experts point out in their report, with the gradual departure of park staff assigned to cetaceans, “whatever the destination chosen ultimatelyit is not possible to delay the departure of orcas and dolphins beyond 12 to 18 months without putting them at excessive risk.”
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As for the opposite animals within the park, the primary departures have already taken place, with a switch of seals and sea lions organized firstly of November to the Madrid zoo. As for the twelve bottlenose dolphins at Marineland, a few of them might observe the orcas in a marine park. The relaxation would go to a sanctuary in Taranto in Italy or a dolphinarium. For Éric Pauget, MP for Alpes-Maritimes, it’s now vital to keep away from “an economic, social, environmental and animal fiasco”. “The management of Marineland must take its responsibilities and the State must meet its commitments,” insists the elected official in a press launch. We should cease botching this difficulty and eventually take the time to deal with it with the seriousness and a spotlight it deserves. »
In the meantime, the destiny of the orcas might rapidly develop into clearer. The Council of State should the truth is quickly render its resolution on the attraction filed by the affiliation C’est Enough!, aimed toward stopping any switch of captive cetaceans from France to overseas for industrial functions. If it validates the retention of orcas of their tanks, they might stay at Marineland awaiting the opening of a sanctuary.
https://www.lepoint.fr/societe/que-vont-devenir-les-deux-orques-du-marineland-d-antibes-apres-la-fermeture-30-12-2024-2578969_23.php