The Minister of Ecological Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher announced this Monday that she was opposed to the transfer of the last two orcas from the Marineland water park to Japan due to its “regulations” on “animal welfare”.
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New twist in the case surrounding the transfer of the orcas Wikie and Keijo to Marineland in Antibes. The Minister of Ecological Transition Agnès Pannier-Runacher announced on TF1 on November 25 that she was opposed to the transfer of the last two orcas from the park to Japan due to its “regulations” on “animal welfare”.
“There are parks which today are able to accommodate orcas”, as “in Spain”more “in Japan, there are no such extensive regulations on animal welfare”estimated Ms. Pannier-Runacher.
Located on the Côte d'Azur, the Marineland park has until the 1st December 2026 to separate from its two orcas still in captivity, since a law prohibited their detention in 2021.
The park made a request last week to the Ministry of Ecological Transition to transfer it to the Kobe park, in western Japan.
According to the site managers, “the park has carried out several research projects to comply with the law (…) and it appeared that Kobe, who respects the standards in force, was the best option”, supported Marineland at the end of November, believing that the solution of a sanctuary in Nova Scotia (eastern Canada) proposed by animal rights associations was not “not possible”. The minister indicated that she was opposed to this option, suggesting that other parks respect “European regulations”, like that of Tenerife in the Spanish Canary Islands.
The sites mentioned:
The press service of Marineland expressed its reaction to France 3 Côte d'Azur in a few lines. The park says “take note of the Minister's statement.”
Marineland will continue to be in close contact with the competent authorities and the best experts to identify the best solutions to accommodate cetaceans in structures equivalent to Marineland in terms of quality of care and educational projects with the sole priority being the well-being of the animals. animals.
Marineland Communications Serviceon France 3 Côte d'Azur this November 26.
For its part, the One Voice association asked the courts to suspend this transfer while an assessment of the state of health of the cetaceans is underway. Animal rights NGOs regularly take action to oppose this transfer.
We are opposed to this transfer to Japan in basins which are a third of that of Antibes while there is a solution in Nova Scotia
Muriel Arnal, president of the animal rights association One Voice.
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We remember what caused a lot of noise last March, two of the four orcas that Marineland park held died, one from septicemia and the other after ingestion of a foreign body.
The two surviving orcas, Wikie and her son Keijo, were both born in captivity in this Antibes park, the first in 2001 and the second in 2013.
