Rally against Beauval: Press Release
A rally, organised by One Voice, is being held on Saturday 1 August 2026 in Saint-Aignan (Loir-et-Cher) to say no to the dolphinarium at Beauval Zoo. Authorised by the prefecture under the designation of ‘centre for the study, scientific research and conservation of dolphins’, the project involves pools and the breeding of the animals. While eight dolphins from Marineland have just been shipped off to Spain to await their transfer to Beauval, One Voice has lodged an appeal against the prefectural order, another against the planning permission, and is preparing an appeal against the ministerial decree.
During the night of 22–23 July, eight of Marineland’s twelve dolphins were loaded onto a lorry and shipped off to Spain. Lua was torn away from her mother, her grandmother and her best friend. These animals are destined to be transferred to Beauval once the facility is ready: a traumatic round trip only to end up… in yet another dolphinarium. The zoo will also join the European Endangered Species Programme (EEP): it will therefore breed new victims of the captivity industry. Yet no reputable scientific literature establishes that reproduction is necessary for the welfare of dolphins deprived of everything and confined within walls.
A green light given without assessing the impacts
More concrete. Continuously treating the water in the pools. Discharging this water. Yet the authorisation was granted without an environmental impact assessment. The fact that such a decision was taken without assessing the facility’s impact on the environment – and that it has the backing of the Ministry for Ecological Transition – speaks volumes about the value placed on the commitments made in 2021.
One Voice is fighting back, and will not give up
One Voice has taken part in numerous consultation meetings. Initially, we were presented with the idea of a sanctuary – a temporary solution. Then came talk of breeding, joining the European breeding programme, and possible transfers. The masks came off. Our organisation’s lawyers have examined the decrees and the planning permission in order to challenge them. Back in 2016, Beauval had already attempted to open a dolphinarium: One Voice stopped it. The organisation will see this through to the end once again. The rally on 1 August marks the start of a campaign that is only just beginning.
“The law of 2021 promised an end to the captivity of cetaceans. Five years on, we are being presented with a dolphinarium under the guise of science, with breeding explicitly stated in black and white in the decree. We stopped Beauval in 2016, and we will stop them again. On 1 August, we will be in Saint-Aignan to remind everyone that there is only one acceptable outcome for these dolphins: genuine marine sanctuaries. » Muriel Arnal, PresiA pool. Walls. Captive dolphins. Breeding. Possible transfers to other dolphinariums. Behind the scientific jargon, the facts are clear. The Act of 30 November 2021 against animal cruelty was intended to put an end to the captivity of cetaceans in France. Five years later, while dolphinariums are closing across Europe, our country is preparing to open a new one.
Beauval Zoo refers to it as a ‘centre for study, scientific research and conservation’. One does not study wild animals that are confined, stripped of their natural behaviour and deprived of their habitat — unless it is to measure the ravages of captivity on them… As for conservation, the bottlenose dolphin is not an endangered species: the IUCN classifies it as of ‘least concern’. Dolphins born or kept in captivity are not ‘saved’: they are condemned to a life behind concrete walls. In reality, the title of ‘research centre’ serves only one purpose: to fulfil the requirement for a scientific programme in order to be authorised to keep dolphins.
Broken families, planned births
dent of One Voice.
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
Date: Saturday 1 August 2026
Time: 10am to 12 noon
Venue: in front of the tourist office and the zoo, in Saint-Aignan (Loir-et-Cher)
Event: facebook.com/events/1542510304175446
Petition: ‘No to a new dolphinarium at Beauval!’
Rally against Beauval: Press Release
In protest against the dolphinarium at Beauval Zoo, One Voice is calling for a rally on 1 August in Saint-Aignan