Saturday 07 December 2019 | 281

Save our orcas! A sanctuary, not China!

Save our orcas! A sanctuary, not China!

Mis à jour le 12 December 2019

Inouk, Wikie, Moana and Keijo, four orcas born into captivity at Marineland of Antibes could
be transferred very soon to China. But once there, they would be exploited without mercy
until their last breath because there is no law that protects animals. We will not give up the
fight! We are asking the President of the Republic to act, we are calling for a mobilization
and gathering of our allies, experts and NGOs in the fight towards the closure of
Dolphinariums. Save our orcas, they need to be transferred to a sanctuary and certainly not
to China!

Hr blog

In the far east, the construction of ponds and breeding parks are multiplying visibly and in monumental proportions. The manufacturers at the head of these companies are ready for anything, not hesitating to provide "even at the source" to fill these pools, as in Russia...

The captive industry: ready for anything

But Western countries are in the midst of changes towards the captivity of wild animals. Thus, Vladimir Putin, after consulting with orca specialists accompanied by NGOs including One Voice, has courageously ordered the ban on the sale of orcas and belugas captured in Russian waters. All were released. A dead loss for the Russian billionaires at the head of this business: each living orca selling for a million dollars. And a lack of animals to exploit for this booming captive industry in China. The publicity campaigns and the disaffection of the public for these "shows" today has pushed Marineland to get rid of its orcas while still reaping the benefits. 

The group Parque Reunidos which owns, among others, Marineland, is one of those structures that are developing in this part of the world. We have just learned that it should make a transfer of orcas from France next January.

Hell is a dolphinarium pool in China

What awaits them in China is constant reproduction, the separation of Wikie and her sons Moana and Keijo, who is only 6 years old. Remember that in the wild, orcas live together in family groups all their lives... To this we can add exposure to diseases consistent with the decline of the immune system due to living in captivity, insanity resulting in self-harming behaviour, and death from exhaustion. In China, many captive cetaceans disappear without a trace, in total impunity...

Save our orcas!

But Inouk, Wikie, Moana and Keijo are orcas born in France. Marineland are responsible for them, if only on a moral plane. These are "our" orcas! We ask the President of the Republic to intervene, as his Russian counterpart did. We wrote to him, as well as the orca specialist, Dr. Ingrid Visser.

A sanctuary, not China!

We saw Valentin die during the storm of 2015 and rallied together for Inouk. The park is not in compliance with current regulations. Year after year, we are present alongside the orcas. We also demand relentlessly that the Ministry of Ecology rewrite the 2017 decree in the same manner and urgently so exchanges between parks can be stopped and also reproduction in captivity! Meanwhile, for more than two years, breeding has been in full swing for dolphins in French dolphinariums and orcas may see their conditions of their hellish detention worsen. They need to be transferred to a marine sanctuary! Parque Reunidos, listed on the stock exchange, has ample means to invest in the establishment of a space where they can live far from the public gaze, in semi-freedom and together. Please sign the petition!

Shouka, Inouk’s beloved big sister, sent to the United States in 2002 and kept alone for more than ten years in an empty pool, is currently circling the pools of Seaworld in California. After years of isolation that led to her madness, she has had her misery slightly lifted thanks to an older captive orca like herself. Shouka would also be involved in the transfer to China. She will certainly be forced to reproduce in addition to being indecently enslaved to amuse the crowd like the others. So, it is the five “French” orcas that will disappear forever if we allow the captivity industry to continue to operate.

Julia Mothé
Hr blog

In the subject

The court prohibit Marineland from relocating the orcas before the end of the independent assessment Marineland: One Voice has obtained a temporary ban on moving the orcas - hearing on 16/01/2024

Comments 281

I accept that publication of my comments is subject to the code of conduct.

amélie | Monday 23 December 2019

Je reste persuadée qu'avec leur intelligence, ces animaux pourraient se réadapter dans la nature avec l'assistance nécessaire à leur survie au début du processus de retour à la vie sauvage.
C'est tellement beau de voir un animal retrouver sa vraie nature !
... je rêve là...

flo | Thursday 19 December 2019

Alors que Marineland sort des reportages pour tenter de nous convaincre que leurs orques (entre autres ...) sont bien traitées, comment peuvent-ils les envoyer ainsi dans un pays si lointain où les droits de animaux n'existent pas? Un pays où la chasse à la baleine, la surpêche, bat son plein ? Prenons en compte la taille du cerveau de ces animaux, leur système familial, etc ... Nous réclamons un sanctuaire pour que ces animaux aient enfin, peut être, un petit bout de vie qu'ils méritent après tant d'années d'esclavage !!!

Meissa Mbaye Niang | Thursday 19 December 2019

Je vous encourage puisque nous partageons les mêmes passions de protection des animaux. Je dirige une association nationale de protection des animaux dans mon pays, le Sénégal.
Les orques ont droit à la protection.

Ll | Monday 16 December 2019

Faites enfin quelque chose pour l’avenir et le quotidien des animaux !