Home Sought for Two Captive Killer Whales Stuck in Abandoned Zoo

There have been calls for the French government to rethink relocating two trapped killer whales to Canada.

Wikie, who is 23 years old, along with her 11-year-old son named Keijo, are presently being kept at Marineland Antibes. aquarium in southeastern France , where they were born And they've been maintained throughout their existence. It shut down in January.

An application to transfer them to what seemed like their best chance for relocation—the Loro Parque marine park in Tenerife—was denied by Spanish officials. Notably, Loro Parque currently houses four orcas, with one having been born just last month.

Lori Marino, who leads The Whale Sanctuary Project (WSP), stated that their facility in Nova Scotia remains “the last choice,” since French officials haven’t pinpointed a spot in Europe and also dismissed relocating them to a sea park in Japan.

Her team is attempting to relocate the orcas to the eastern Canadian province despite a the previous proposal was turned down by the French Ministry of Ecology earlier this year.

Animal rights groups want the orcas to be rehomed in a whale sanctuary where they will have more space to swim and will not be forced to breed or perform in shows.

Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the French ecology minister, said in February she was looking for a European sanctuary but a suitable site for Wikie and Keijo has not been secured yet.

"If you don't even have a site, you're years away from being a viable sanctuary," said Lori, adding that the WSP had already carried out environmental studies, water surveys and been offered a lease by Canada's department of natural resources.

Managers at Marineland said sanctuaries are a hypothetical that "will take years" to be built and with "no guarantees" the whales will be properly looked after.

They emphasized that Wikie and Keijo must depart immediately for their well-being, stating further: "Marineland underscores the utmost urgency in relocating these creatures to a suitable facility."

Although Marineland has ceased operations as an aquatic theme park, they remain legally obligated to ensure the well-being of the animals until they can be properly relocated.

The proposal to relocate them to Loro Parque was characterized by Pannier-Runacher as a short-term solution aimed at filling the void until a European sanctuary could be established and completed.

However, activists were concerned that the transfer might ultimately become irreversible. The choice made by a Spanish scientific committee to prohibit it was unexpectedly pleasing for numerous advocates involved.

“I was stunned,” Lori said to The News PulseNews. “We believed it was a foregone conclusion. We thought that’s where the orcas were headed; it seemed like an accomplished fact.”

The scientific committee’s endorsement was essential to finalize the transfer; however, they determined that Loro Parque's facilities failed “to satisfy the basic criteria regarding space, volume, and depth required for accommodating the animals under ideal circumstances.”

Dr. Jan Schmidt-B Burbach, who leads the animal welfare and wildlife research efforts for the organization World Animal Protection, stated that the choice was "unanticipated yet logical."

He pointed out that this "clearly shows how marine parks have become an obsolete sector with declining acceptance" within society.

In response to the panel's decision, Loro Parque stated that their "facilities are acknowledged by independent evaluators as offering some of the best standards of animal care globally."

The WSP has pinpointed a location at Port Hilford Bay, Nova Scotia, where they intend to isolate an area with 1,600 meters of netting.

The project’s team includes individuals who previously worked on a whale sanctuary established for housing Keiko—the orca that played a role in the 1993 film "Free Willy."

Charles Vinick, the CEO of WSP, led the Keiko initiative in Iceland, with Jeff Foster, an expert in relocating sea creatures, being part of his group as well.

Born in the wild, Keiko managed to regain certain survival abilities upon her arrival at the sanctuary in 1998.

He stayed there for four years before departing alongside a group of orcas with which he had formed a bond. They journeyed to Norway, where he passed away in 2003 due to an infection.

There is no possibility of releasing Wikie and Keijo back into their natural habitat because, unlike Keiko, they were born in captivity.

They've dedicated their entire lives to being looked after and amused by their trainers. Lori mentions that they would receive similar care in Nova Scotia but would enjoy far greater living spaces compared to what a pool can offer.

We've got an entire team skilled in establishing and operating a sanctuary," stated Lori. "They’ve handled this before, and I believe our group is uniquely experienced in these matters.

After discovering that the transfer to Loro Parque had been halted, Lori and the WSP team reached out to the ministry for assistance. As of this writing, they were still awaiting a reply.

The News Pulse reached out to the ministry for their input as well. However, Pannier-Runacher has not provided any fresh updates regarding the future of the orcas.

Before a choice is reached, Wiki and Keijo stay at Marineland, oblivious to the fact that their home has become vacant.

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