Marineland applies for orca export permits and Loro Parque looks forward to welcoming Wikie and Keijo
Following confirmation that the orcas held by Marineland Antibes were to be sent even further from their parents’ Icelandic home waters to Loro Parque, in the Spanish Canary Islands off the coast of Africa, and that the application for export authorization would be submitted in the next few days, we are once again mobilizing for Wikie and Keijo. For the animals, against the government’s pretence, against the greed and cynicism of the captivity industry. This February 15, we’ll be back in front of Marineland.
Yesterday, it was confirmed that Loro Parque was preparing to “welcome” Marineland’s orcas. Alas, nothing really new, following the announcements by the French Minister for Ecological Transition (MTE). Despite the IGEDD report, Agnès Pannier Runacher had decided against Japan (late… if we hadn’t blocked the transfer of the orcas at the beginning of 2024, they’d be there) and had written to the Whale Sanctuary Project brushing aside the sanctuary solution with a wave of her hand, the opposite of the choice made by her scientific advisors… Today, the French park also confirms its desire to accelerate.
Why respect justice when you’ve got the executive in your pocket?
Clearly, Marineland and probably the Ministry of Ecology are wiping their feet on court rulings. As a reminder, the independent expertise ordered by the court and obtained by One Voice has still not been completed, and the ban confirmed by the Aix en Provence Court of Appeal on December 5 on transferring Wikie and Keijo anywhere is still in force.
If an application for a permit is made, despite the judicial ban, our lawyers are ready to challenge it.
Marineland Antibes, the Japanese dolphinarium or the one in Spain: no lesser evil for orcas to choose
They’d have us believe that Loro Parque, the place where four orcas have died in recent years, is a decent solution. Who are they kidding? What kind of animal welfare are we talking about when we send Wikie and Keijo to rot in these tiny pools?
At Marineland, the detained orcas are a family, there’s no conflict, and Wikie the matriarch regulates her little world (which is getting smaller and smaller…). At Loro Parque, on the other hand, there is a lot of fighting, and the orcas are aggressive towards each other. Morgan’s body bore 600 bite marks in the first few years after she was sold to the dolphinarium.
Aidan and Tekoa, the two surviving males there, will undoubtedly impose a violent hierarchy on little Keijo. Wikie, for her part, will have to reproduce with one of these aggressive males by way of mistreatment. She will be separated from her son for the first time, and won’t be able to protect him.
Well-being? An empty statement for those who thrive on animal distress
Marineland claims to have the biggest tanks in the world… So how can you talk about improving the welfare of orcas when you send Wikie and Keijo to rot in Loro Parque, which has smaller tanks? The underlying reason why the French dolphinarium wants to speed up the process is that it has let its infrastructures fall into disrepair: they are now 25 years old, and no investment has been made in them for years.
In France and elsewhere, One Voice will never stop defending these orcas.
We are mobilizing again in front of Marineland in Antibes this Saturday, February 15. And we have contacted our partners in Tenerife to take action in front of Loro Parque too.