The row deepens the European Sanctuary

The uncertain future of two orcs is not closer to being resolved Despite the closure of his marine zoo home two months ago.

Wikie, 23, and his 11 -year -old son Keijo still remains in Marineland Antibes, located in southern France, after he closed in January due to an upcoming law that prohibits the use of orcs in shows.

For months, Marineland managers have tried to send murderous whales to other marine zoos, but this has angry the activists of animal rights that wish in a sanctuary, where the orcs will not have to make or be used for breeding.

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

But now Agnès Pannier-Runacher, the French Ecology Minister, said she would talk to colleagues in Spain, Italy and Greece about the creation of a different sanctuary together. However, his proposal has some other details and has been criticized.

The Ministry of Ecology, when the BBC, had no more information about where a sanctuary could be located or who would finance its construction and operation costs.

Loro Parque, a marine zoo in Spain that wants to receive the marineland orcs, told the BBC this week that the current proposal was “totally inappropriate” and that they were better positioned to take care of them.

Christoph Kiessling, vice president of the installation in Tenerife, said that whale sanctuaries “could not meet the complex physiological, social and environmental needs of the Orcas of the Orcs.

Most of the designs involve cordoning off a bay and using staff to ensure that Wikie and Keijo, who were born in captivity and cannot be released in nature, were fed and served properly.

Kiessling said such a solution could be possible if there were more extensive investigation and planning, but “such a process could take years, leaving the two Marineland (Orcas) in an installation that is finishing.”

Activists point out that several Orcs have died in Loro Parque in recent years, including three between March 2021 and September 2022.

The managers of the Marino Zoo said that the scientific examination of those orcs by the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria showed that the deaths were inevitable.

They also fear that Wikie can be used for reproduction. Loro Parque announced in January that Morgan, the only woman of the three orcs currently keeping there, is pregnant.

Katheryn Wise, from The Charity World Animal Protection, said Loro Parque was ultimately an entertainment business that used orcas to earn money.

He added: “Morgan’s pregnancy underlines the fact that Loro Parque could never be an adequate option for Wikie and Keijo and must be eliminated as an option.”

Marineland, who is still paying to take care of the ORCAS, said that a moving to Loro Parque as soon as possible was the best for the welfare of animals. They have asked the Ministry of Ecology to approve the transfer.

The whale sanctuary in Canada asked the French government to assume the OCAS last year, but its offer was rejected in January.

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

After the proposal of Pannier-Runacher for a sanctuary in Europe, which announced a fortnight on a video on Instagram, the directors of the Canadian project rejected criticized the idea that one was built in the Mediterranean.

They wrote a letter in which Dr. David Perpiñán, a diploma at the European College of Zoological Medicine, who said: “The origin of Wikie and Keijo is Iceland. These two orcs 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 possible options.”

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

Other animal rights groups have been more welcoming with the announcement of Pannier-Runacher, saying that a European sanctuary would still be better for the well-being of the orcs than life in another marine zoo.

Sea Shepherd, a marine conservation society, responded to the Minister on Instagram saying that this was an opportunity to achieve what the zoo industry calls “impossible”: the construction of an oceanic sanctuary where captive orcs can enjoy the rest of their lives.

Pannier-Runacher said in his video that he was very aware of the strong feelings that people had about where Wikie and Keijo should be resumed.

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

Last November, he blocked a Marineland application to send the murderous whales to a marine zoo in Japan, citing lower animal welfare regulations in the country.

The ‘Year of the Sea’ is currently in progress in France, an initiative of the Government to raise awareness about the importance of the ocean, and Pannier-Runacher believes that the creation of a European whale sanctuary would be an adequate testimony.

“I’m not telling you to work,” Instagram told users. “But nothing ventured, nothing won.”