Loro Parque: Press Release
Around fifty protesters were gathered this Saturday outside Loro Parque in Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain). One Voice took part in this action, which marks the intensification of its campaign against the transfer of the last two French orcas from Marineland – Wikie and Keijo – to Europe’s most abusive dolphinarium.
This weekend, our association took part in a protest outside Loro Parque in Tenerife. The demonstration was also attended by several Spanish organisations, including Oceanos de Vida Libre, Protection Animale and Imagine Canarias. Our team was also able to visit the zoo and watch several shows.
Loro Parque is a private zoo with which Parques Reunidos, the owner of Marineland, is determined to do business. The lobbying carried out by Loro Parque and Parques Reunidos towards the French and Spanish governments aims at the imminent transfer of the last two French orcas – Wikie and Keijo – to this dolphinarium which represents the worst that captivity has to offer these animals who crave wide open spaces and social interaction with their own kind.
This solution is currently being seriously considered by the French government, which is prepared to flout the spirit of the 2021 law prohibiting the keeping and breeding of cetaceans in captivity in France, by authorising their transfer abroad under conditions of captivity that are deeply concerning.
Just as it has done month after month outside Marineland, One Voice will step up its on-site actions to counter any transfer plans and to support the Spanish CITES scientists who continue to denounce, with evidence to back them up, the impossibility of properly accommodating Wikie and Keijo in this zoo where animals are already suffering.
Muriel Arnal, President of One Voice: “For Wikie and Keijo, nothing will stop us, ever. The public loves them so much and its support for our actions gives us the strength to continue this fight, today in Tenerife. Our teams are ready; we will be outside Loro Parque for as long as it takes. For our French orcas, a sanctuary and nothing else!”