Dolphins die... For justice system: Move on, there is nothing to see!
On November 24th, Nantes Tribunal de Grande Instance (TGI) granted the request of Parc Planète Sauvage and ordered One Voice to pay €1,000. The TGI also cancels the order of justice having authorized the association to investigate with the help of a bailiff the conditions of detention for the dolphins in this park … which has just recorded the death of the young Aikko!
His decision was based on the report prepared by the Departmental Direction of the Protection of the populations of Loire-Atlantique (DDPP), following a visit to the zoological park of Port-Saint-Père in February 2016, indicating that “The animals’ health status and their conditions of detention are in accordance with the regulations in force, no danger having been noted for these dolphins“. The judge also denied the urgency of the application for the court order, obtained by One Voice to carry out this summer, a bailiff ‘s report on the living conditions and health of the eight dolphins in the Park.
Muriel Arnal, President of One Voice, who was received at the Ministry of the Environment on 24 November to plead for the closure of dolphinariumins in France, commented on the decision:
“This judgment could be understood if the young dolphin Aikko who was sent to Park Asterix early 2015, did not die in Port-Saint-Père on November 6th. We did our work as whistle-blowers, with two successive reports produced this year by eminent marine biologists (Dres Naomi Rose and Ingrid Visser) to highlight the dysfunctions of the park, and with this lawsuit to obtain a bailiff’s report. Such a decision masks a reality that now weighs on the future of other dolphins of Planet Sauvage, including the half-brother of Aikko, the young Galéo. How many deaths will it take before something is done?”
The association does not give up, far from it: The Commission for access to administrative documents, the CADA, gave a favourable opinion on 3 November 2016 to One Voice’s request that the refusal of the DDPP to provide a copy of the control report relating to the Planète Sauvage dolphinarium was not justified. One Voice has therefore reiterated its request for a copy of the DDPP control report and remains committed to shed light on the causes of Aikko’s death and to put the other dolphins in the park out of harm’s way.
For Muriel Arnal:
“The report of the DDPP, giving an endorsement to the park on its compliance with the regulations cannot fail to note the lack of adequate shade for the pools, as well as the presence of algae, this criterion alone should not allow such a positive conclusion. Moreover, since the passage of the DDPP, Planète Sauvage has recorded the birth of two dolphins. The conditions of detention and the coexistence between cetaceans have nothing more to do with the report, as today one of the three pools is used to isolate infant dolphins with their mothers … This reduces the other dolphins to an untenable confinement. I recall that last year, the birth of a dolphin in Port-Saint-Prère resulted in the death of the baby, victim of a fight between depressed dolphins.”
The One Voice association therefore maintains all its ongoing proceedings against the Parc Planète Sauvage: the complaint filed with the public prosecutor, the request addressed to the prefect for formal notice to comply with the regulations on pain of suspension of its activity, and finally an interim procedure to assess the causes of the death of Aikko.
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