Row deepens over European sanctuary

The uncertain future of two killer whales is no closer to being resolved despite the closure of their marine zoo home two months ago.

Wikie, 23, and her 11-year-old son Keijo are still being kept at Marineland Antibes, located in southern France, after it closed in January due to a forthcoming law banning the use of orcas in shows.

For months managers at Marineland have tried to send the killer whales to other marine zoos but this has angered animal rights campaigners who want them housed in a sanctuary, where the orcas won’t have to perform or be used for breeding.

The orcas were expected to go to another marine zoo in Spain when the French government rejected a move to a proposed sanctuary in Canada a few weeks ago.

But now Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the French ecology minister, said she would speak to colleagues in Spain, Italy and Greece about creating a different sanctuary together. However, her proposal has few other details and has been criticised.

The ecology ministry, when asked by the BBC, had no further information on where a sanctuary might be located or who would fund its construction and running costs.

Loro Parque, a marine zoo in Spain that wants to receive the killer whales from Marineland, told the BBC this week the current proposal was “wholly unsuitable” and that they were best positioned to care for them.

Christoph Kiessling, vice-president of the facility in Tenerife, said whale sanctuaries were “currently unable to meet the complex physiological, social and environmental needs” of killer whales.

Most designs involve cordoning off a bay and employing staff to ensure Wikie and Keijo – who were born in captivity and cannot be released into the wild – are properly fed and looked after.

Kiessling did say such a solution might be possible if there was more extensive research and planning but “such a process could take years, leaving the two Marineland [orcas] in a facility that is being wound down”.

Campaigners point out that several orcas have died at Loro Parque in the last few years, including three between March 2021 and September 2022.

Managers at the marine zoo said scientific examination of those orcas by the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria showed the deaths were unavoidable.

They also fear Wikie might be used for breeding. Loro Parque announced in January that Morgan, the only female of the three orcas currently kept there, is pregnant.

Katheryn Wise, from the charity World Animal Protection, said Loro Parque was ultimately an entertainment business that used orcas to make money.

She added: “Morgan’s pregnancy underlines the fact that Loro Parque could never be a suitable option for Wikie and Keijo and should be removed as an option.”

Marineland, who are still paying to look after the orcas, said a move to Loro Parque as soon as possible was in the best interests of the animals’ welfare. They have asked the ecology ministry to approve the transfer.

The whale sanctuary in Canada applied to the French government to take in the orcas last year but their bid was rejected in January.

They were told the site they had selected in Nova Scotia was too far away and that the water there was too cold for Wikie and Keijo, who have spent their whole lives in southern France.

Following Pannier-Runacher’s proposal for a sanctuary in Europe, which she announced a fortnight ago in a video on Instagram, the directors of the rejected Canadian project criticised the idea of one being built in the Mediterranean.

They wrote a letter to her in which they cited Dr David Perpiñán, a diplomate at the European College of Zoological Medicine, who said: “Wikie and Keijo’s origin is Iceland. These two orcas do not belong to the ecotypes seen in the Mediterranean.”

He added: “The possibility of building a sanctuary for them in the Mediterranean is probably the worst of the possible options.”

The directors also said, unlike the European proposal, their sanctuary was ready to begin construction as the design had already been finalised.

Other animal rights groups have been more welcoming of Pannier-Runacher’s announcement, saying a European sanctuary would still be better for the orcas’ welfare than life in another marine zoo.

Sea Shepherd, a marine conservation society, replied to the minister on Instagram saying this was a chance to achieve what the zoo industry calls “impossible” – the building of an ocean sanctuary where captive orcas can enjoy the rest of their lives.

Pannier-Runacher said in her video she was keenly aware of the strong feelings people had about where Wikie and Keijo should be rehomed.

She did not rule out sending them to Loro Parque or other marine zoos, only that she would “oppose any transfer to a site that is not suitable for accommodating” orcas.

Last November she blocked an application by Marineland to send the killer whales to a marine zoo in Japan, citing lower animal welfare regulations in the country.

The ‘Year of the Sea’ is currently underway in France, a government initiative to raise awareness about the importance of the ocean, and Pannier-Runacher believes the creation of a European whale sanctuary would be a fitting testament to it.

“I’m not telling you that it will work,” she told Instagram users. “But nothing ventured, nothing gained.”