{"id":63439,"date":"2025-06-07T20:37:54","date_gmt":"2025-06-07T20:37:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/?p=63439"},"modified":"2025-06-07T20:37:55","modified_gmt":"2025-06-07T20:37:55","slug":"heartbreaking-drone-foo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/?p=63439","title":{"rendered":"Heartbreaking drone foo."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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New drone footage has revealed a grim and deteriorating scene in the south of France: the country\u2019s last two captive killer whales, Wikie and her son Keijo, are still trapped inside a closed-down marine zoo, languishing in algae-filled tanks while authorities stall over their rehoming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Animal activists are now making urgent calls to the French government to intervene, warning that the clock is ticking for the orcas\u2019 health and safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stranded in a Shuttered Zoo<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Marineland Antibes, the marine park near Cannes where 23-year-old Wikie and 11-year-old Keijo have lived their entire lives, shut its doors in January following a ban on dolphin and whale shows, the New York Post<\/a> reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But while the public left, the animals didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aerial footage captured by TideBreakers<\/a> on May 7 shows the orcas confined in what appears to be murky, neglected enclosures, surrounded by crumbling infrastructure. Twelve dolphins remain trapped in the same facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a heartwrenching statement shared alongside the footage, TideBreakers, said: \u201cNew footage of the last two captive orcas in France stranded in a shut down marine park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis footage was taken on May 7, 2025 above Marineland Antibes, France. Marineland closed to visitors in January 2025, and is now abandoned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTragically, it\u2019s still home of Wikie and Keijo, the last 2 captive orcas in France. The mother and son remain trapped there, waiting for their fate in crumbling tanks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe abandoned park is also home to 12 dolphins that have been left to rot at the algae-infested deteriorating tanks. Marineland\u2019s owners also own Shouka, Wikie\u2019s sister and Keijo\u2019s aunt, who lives at SeaWorld San Diego.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPlans to relocate Wikie and Keijo to a sanctuary made headlines, but with no sanctuary in sight, the organizations behind the efforts have gone silent.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Comments on the post have revealed that the animals are still being fed by staff members, but footage shows the animals swimming around in algae-infested enclosures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey Must Leave Now\u201d<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Despite the park\u2019s closure, Marineland is still legally responsible for the animals. And its management is now sounding the alarm, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"ScreenshotMarineland Antibes closed its doors to the public in January. Credit: GoogleMaps<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMarineland reaffirms the extreme urgency of transferring the animals to an operational destination,\u201d the park said, per BBC News<\/a>. \u201cWikie and Keijo must leave now\u201d for their own welfare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Efforts to rehome the pair have hit repeated walls. An application to move them to Japan was blocked by the French Ministry for Ecology earlier this year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another plan to send them to Loro Parque in Tenerife \u2014 already home to four orcas \u2014 was also halted after a Spanish scientific panel concluded the facilities did \u201cnot meet the minimum requirements in terms of surface area, volume and depth necessary to house the specimens in optimal conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Jan Schmidt-Burbach of World Animal Protection told the BBC that the decision was \u201cunexpected but rational,\u201d adding that it \u201cperfectly illustrates the fact that marine parks are an outdated industry with dropping acceptability\u201d in society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Canada Could Be Their Last Chance<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Now, animal welfare groups are urging the French government to approve a transfer to what may be the only viable remaining option: a sanctuary in Port Hilford Bay, Nova Scotia, run by the Whale Sanctuary Project (WSP).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"GettyImages-2199095375.jpg\": An aerial view of the now-closed Hotel Marineland in Antibes, France. Credit: Mohamad Salaheldin Abdelg Alsayed\/Anadolu via Getty Images<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lori Marino, president of the WSP \u2013 which had a previous proposal rejected by the French ecology ministry \u2013 says it is the \u201conly option left\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lori said their team has completed environmental studies, water surveys, and secured a lease from Canada\u2019s Department of Natural Resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Built by the Team Behind \u2018Free Willy\u2019<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The WSP team includes Charles Vinick and Jeff Foster, both of whom helped build the Icelandic sanctuary that housed Keiko \u2014 the orca who starred in Free Willy. Keiko was released into the wild and swam with a pod to Norway before dying of an infection in 2003.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But there\u2019s no such hope for Wikie and Keijo. Unlike Keiko, both were born in captivity and have spent their lives under human care. Lori added that there is no chance Wikie and Keijo will be released into the wild.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, she argued, the sanctuary in Nova Scotia would provide far more space and care \u2013 as well as a natural environment \u2013 than any pool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Animal advocacy groups insist the time for waiting is over, with TideBreakers warning that action must be taken quickly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though French ecology minister Agn\u00e8s Pannier-Runacher said back in February she was looking for a European sanctuary, no concrete site has been found. The temporary transfer to Loro Parque, which she had framed as a stopgap, has now been scrapped.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI was shocked,\u201d Lori Marino told BBC News about the Spanish panel\u2019s decision to block the move. \u201cWe thought it was a fait accompli. We assumed that was where the orcas were going, it looked like a done deal.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New drone footage has revealed a grim and deteriorating scene in the south of France: the country\u2019s last two captive killer whales, Wikie and her son Keijo,… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63439"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63439"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63441,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63439\/revisions\/63441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}