A French marine park has closed definitively due to a 2021 law banning shows featuring marine mammals, leaving the fate of the last two orcas in captivity in the country uncertain. The park, Marineland near Antibes on the French Riviera, shut its doors on Sunday with a final performance by its two killer whales, Wikie and Keijo.
Animal activists had been angered by Marineland’s plans to transfer the orcas to Japan, a move France’s ecology minister opposed due to Tokyo’s lax animal welfare laws. The park has until December 2026 to relocate the whales, along with 4,000 other animals from 150 species, including dolphins, sea lions, turtles and fish.
Visitor numbers dropped from 1.2 million a year in its heyday to 425,000 over the past decade, leading the Spanish owner Parques Reunidos to announce the closure. Staff and visitors expressed dismay; keeper Jeremy Lo Vasco said, “Our priority is that the animals are well, but the hammer blow will come later.”
Marineland was hit by controversy in March after two of its orcas died within five months. The closure ends a story that began when World War II hero Count Roland Paulze d’Ivoy de La Poype opened the park inspired by US marine attractions.
