Two Orcas Left Trapped In Enclosure In Abandoned Marine Park Months After Closure

Byminheditor

May 23, 2025 #Minh nick 1

####### Video #######

Wikie and Keijo are still confined to Marineland Antibes, long after the park officially shut down in January.

Two orcas are still being held in a now-abandoned marine park in France, months after it officially shut its doors.

Distressing footage shows the pair swimming listlessly inside their enclosure at Marineland Antibes, located in southeastern France. The footage, taken well after the park closed down in January, has sparked fresh concerns over the welfare of the animals left behind.

French officials are now scrambling to find a new home for the two orcas, Wikie and her son Keijo, who were both born and raised in captivity. A Canadian organization, The Whale Sanctuary Project, has stepped in with an offer to re-home them, but earlier this year, the French government rejected the proposal on environmental grounds.

Lori Marino, the president of The Whale Sanctuary Project, believes their site in Nova Scotia is now the only real option left for the whales. Wikie is 23 years old, and her son Keijo is 11. According to Marino, time is running out for them to be relocated somewhere safe and suitable.

Despite this, France’s ecology minister, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, has said she still hopes to find a suitable sanctuary for them somewhere within Europe. Meanwhile, several zoos have offered to take them in, but that has sparked opposition from animal welfare groups who are pushing for the orcas to be placed in a sanctuary, not another zoo.

Supporters argue a sanctuary would allow them more space to swim freely, and protect them from the stress of performing and forced breeding, which is common in traditional marine parks.

Wikie and Keijo have been kept at the abandoned marine despite its closure in JanuarySWNS

“If you don’t even have a site, you’re years away from being a viable sanctuary,” Marino told the BBC. She also mentioned that the Canadian site had already undergone environmental and water quality studies, and the Canadian government had agreed to lease the space for the sanctuary’s use.

David Phillips from Earth Island Institute added his voice to the debate. As director of the International Marine Mammal Project, he wrote on the group’s website: “We have been strong advocates for the past year that these two orcas should be relocated to a seaside sanctuary, which would be larger, in natural sea water, and save them from repetitive performances in concrete tanks.”

“While the French Ministry has stated a preference for a sanctuary in the EU, we believe that the whale sanctuary being developed in Nova Scotia is a very viable alternative that was previously chosen as the best option by the French Ministry’s Inspector General’s Report.”

“Orcas don’t belong in concrete tanks; they belong in the ocean.”

Phillips also praised the Spanish government for stepping in and blocking plans to move Wikie and Keijo to a zoo in Tenerife.

“The Spanish government deserves credit for stopping the relocation into the dangerous, unsafe tanks of Loro Parque Zoo,” he said.

Unfortunately, Wikie and Keijo aren’t the only animals left behind. Around a dozen dolphins are also still being kept at Marineland Antibes, awaiting their fate.