Europe's largest marine zoo seeks new home for orcas as it closes for final time
Europe’s largest marine zoo closed for good on Sunday after more than 50 years. Marineland in Antibes now needs to find new accommodation for 4,000 animals, including two orcas.
Sunday saw one last performance involving the animals. French legislation bans shows using cetaceans from 2026, and the number of spectators at the park on the French Riviera is steadily falling, from 1.2 million a decade ago to 425,000 today.
According to management, most people come for the shows featuring orcas or dolphins. However, the centre also had a dubious animal welfare record. Several orcas, for instance, have died in recent years, which animal rights organisations blamed on the poor conditions they had to live in.
Unlikely to survive
The park now has two orcas: 23-year-old Wikie and her son, 11-year-old Keijo. They will have to be rehomed by the end of 2025 but no solution has yet been found for them. The option to release them into the sea was quickly abandoned because the animals are not used to a life in the wild and would be unlikely to survive.
A move to a zoo in Japan was also considered, but the French minister was opposed due to the animals’ “fragile condition” and the fact that Japanese legislation offers less protection. Another possibility is a move to a dolphinarium in Tenerife.
Animal protection groups want the pair to be moved to a nature reserve, but according to France’s minister of Ecological Transition, there is no reserve in the world that can accommodate two orcas. Female orcas live to 50 years on average, but can live to more than 80, males 30 to over 50 years.
In Belgium, the Flemish government ruled in November that the dolphinarium at Boudewijn Seapark in Bruges must close by 2037. The decision has been framed as a step toward improving animal welfare, but the park’s management argues that it breaches prior agreements.
The dolphinarium is the last of its kind in the region, home to six dolphins living in captivity.
#FlandersNewsService | © An orca performs at Marineland, 2 January 2025 © PHOTO MIGUEL MEDINA / AFP
Related news
