Humans do not exactly have a stellar track record when it comes to caring for the animals who inhabit this planet with us.
We kill them for fur and food. We push them out of their natural spaces and habitats to build our homes, businesses and farms. We destroy them when they come into our communities. We torture them in the name of science and research. And when were not busy doing all of those things, we subject them to a lifetime of captivity for our entertainment and profit.
But clearly we hadnt sunk as far as it was possible to go with regard to mistreatment of wild animals.
In the latest shining example of the depravity of the human race with regard to wild animals, a theme park in the south of France named Marineland Antibes, once Europes largest marine park, has closed its doors in response to legislation banning certain marine animal performances.
And in so doing, the individuals who ran the facility simply locked the doors and turned their heels and walked away? leaving two killer whales and a dozen dolphins locked inside.
In other words, after years of using these animals for profit and pocketing those profits greedily, the people who ran this facility have left the animals behind in miserable conditions.
The facility shut down inwait for itJanuary. Meaning the two killer whales and a dozen dolphins have been trapped there for months.
And what do the days look like for these poor creatures? The two orcas (Wilkie 23 and her son Keijo, 11) and the dozen dolphins are swimming in circles in dangerous and despairing conditions, according to media reports.
Footage from animal rights group TideBreakers reveals the heartbreaking reality: algae-covered pools, crumbling infrastructure, and animals deprived of mental stimulation.
The mother and son remain trapped there, waiting for their fate in crumbling tanks, TideBreakers wrote alongside the footage, adding that the majestic animals have been simply left to rot, in this
abandoned facility located in the southern coastal town of Antibes on
the French Riviera, about 45 km west of Monaco.?
Theres a small crew thats been
charged with keeping the animals alive until they are rehoused.?
The facility was forced to close as a result of French legislation passed in 2021 prohibiting the use of dolphins and whales for entertainment purposes.
According to media reports, since shutting down, Marinelands management has been unable to find a suitable new home for the neglected sea animals, especially the orcas. While the facility is no longer in business, the organizations
management remains responsible for the well-being of the animals,
according to published reports.?
The whales, who were born in captivity, cannot be released into the wild.
Marineland issued a statement on the matter in December, noting that it was "forced to consider disposing of the animals" as part of the facility's closure. Though the statement also notes that Marineland was working to relocate all of its animals to "the best facilities available today."
That was in December 2024. FIVE months ago. And still it seems the?adults in the room, those the same individuals who had no problem imprisoning these animals in the first place, cannot seem to pull it together enough to rehome these poor creatures.
An application to relocate the whales to a sanctuary in nearby Tenerife, Spain, was denied because facility is already home to four orcas, including a newborn.
Meanwhile, French authorities have yet to approve a new home for the mother and son pair in Europe and have also turned down a zoo in Japan. That leaves the The Whale Sanctuary Project (WSP) in Nova Scotia as a potential option.
The Whale Sanctuary Project has repeatedly and emphatically stated that they are more than happy to save the two whales, including the following:
The Whale Sanctuary Project is making it clear again to all parties that we are ready to work with the French government, with Marineland Antibes, and with any and all other organizations to bring Wikie and Keijo to the sanctuary we are preparing in Nova Scotia, it wrote in an Instagram on April 5.
But French officials appear to have rebuffed this solution. As Global News reported: A previous bid by the group was rejected by the French Ministry for Ecology earlier this year.
It seems, in the best case scenario, whales would not have to endure long-distance travel all the way from France to Nova Scotia. Moreover, back in February, French ecology minister Agns Pannier-Runacher had said she was hoping to identify a suitable home for the whales without having to move them overseas.
In other words, the whales STILL have no home. While humans continue to drag their feet and go home each night to their comfortable beds and sleep peacefully, the orcas continue their bleak days swimming in circles listlessly.
Shame on the human race. Seriously. The lack of apparent urgency in this case is just one problem here.
The greater problem is that these orcas should never have been captive in the first place. They are enormous, majestic animals who swim up to 40 miles a day in the wild, foraging for food and exercising. It has been established time and time again that orcas do not thrive in captivity.? And yet we persist in keeping them in tanks for a lifetime in order to entertain us.
No matter how much money SeaWorld continues to spend annually on public relations efforts to recover from the brutal reality laid bare in the film Blackfish, (a documentary that showed the utter cruelty involved in snatching orcas from the wild)? it is not ever going to be okay to sentence marine animals to a life in a tank.
And no matter how many school field trips SeaWorld sponsors to its amusement parks in order to convince future generations of potential customers that what it's doing to marine wildlife is perfectly okay, it will never change the fact that these animals were not put on this planet to be imprisoned for our entertainment.
I recently traveled to Victoria, British Columbia to witness orcas in the wild (where they should be viewed). I visited a place where our guide told us that the orca population has been severely impacted by the activities of organizations like SeaWorld.
During our visit, my son and I were lucky enough to witness a pod of orcas swimming and leaping out of the water gleefully alongside our boat. Our guide explained the pod was likely celebrating a recent catch they had just feasted on.
As I watched the group of happy orcas swimming and jumping in the air with enthusiasm, my heart and spirit jumped with them. I stood there thinking: THIS is how such beautiful animals are meant to experienced. NOT at SeaWorld or any SeaWorld knock-off.
So once again, shame on those involved in imprisoning Wilkie and Keijo at Marineland in France. These two orcas have spent years in captivity living an unnatural existence. And now weve decided to torture them some more, (now that the profiting off of their backs has ended), by leaving them to rot in algae-infested tanks.
The travel industry, and the human race must do far better then this. It's time to focus on promoting activities to see animals where they belong: In. The. Wild. And STOP supporting activities that subject animals to a life of torture and tragic ends. That includes rejecting elephant riding throughout Asia, not swimming with dolphins in captivity at countless facilities worldwide, and it includes offering a hard no in response to venues that drug wild animals so that tourists can take selfies with them.
Humans need to stop making excuses and start doing better.
And as for Wilkie and Keijo, we must demand action and their rescue now. No better yet, yesterday. The adults in the room had no problem imprisoning them and profiting from them. Now stop wringing your hands and letting day after day pass by while these animals continue to suffer. Use all of that human brainpower to find a way to make the remainder of time that these whales have on the planet better then the torture they've already endured for far, far too long.
We must act fast to prevent a disastrous end for these beautiful creatures. Take their case to the highest levels if necessary. Emmanuel Macron as the head of state in France, this is your responsibility. Are you paying attention?
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