A video posted online or two orcs spinning in an algae -infested pool in southern France has brought a new wave of world concern for cetaceans, Wikie, 24, and its 11 -year -old Keijo calf.
France has been struggling to find a new home for mother and son after its owner, a marine park in the French Riviera, closed for a show of prohibition of laws with marine mammals.
Founded in the city of Antibes in 1970, Marineland closed the public in January after a fall in assistance and law 2021.
In February, the park management submitted an application to urgently transfer the two orcs, also known axis. Killer whalesand 12 dolphins to two parks in Spain, but the measure was blocked by the Spanish authorities saying that the facilities were adapted for them.
“The situation in Marineland Antibes is an emergency,” said Ngo Breakrers based in Canada in a publication on social networks after publishing the video.
“Leaving them in a closing center, confined to a crumbled and decrepit tank, is simply not an option,” he said.
If the two orcs get sick, “they will probably be sacrificed or succumb to the deteriorated environment,” the group warned.
The video, filmed by Drone earlier this month, shows the two orcs and dolphins in tanks whose edges are green with algae, in the midst of installed for other marine animals in brackish water.
Contacted by AFP, the park administration said that the Orca and Dolphin pools remained well maintained and that some 50 employees were still working for the welfare of the animals.
Visible algae in the images were a normal phenomenon, he said, explaining that the pores of algae present in the filtered sea water that fills the pools develop each spring as the water heats up.
They were not harpul to the animals and were regularly eliminated by brushing, said the management.
This explanation was backed by Mike Riddell, who administered the park for 26 years before being fired in a change of property in 2006.
The tasks of the AFP images in May 2020, turning a visit to the press, showed similar fine algae that cover the pool edges.
But the images of the puzzles caused strong reactions that, according to the park management, only included death threats against staff.
The authorities said they share the concerns of the NGOs, but the park’s attempts to find an emergency solution with the staff of the Minister of Environment of France, Agnes Pannier-Runacher, have not reached anything.
Contacted by the AFP, Ministry officials said the authorities were “ensuring that animals continue to stay in good condition, waiting for their future destination” and that the park was looking for “alternative solutions” in the future.
“The only option is”
Animal rights groups want the ORCAS to be re -committed in a whale sanctuary where they have more space to swim and will not be forced to reproduce or act in shows, the BBC previously reported.
Lori Marino, president of the Ballenas Sanctuary project (WSP), said his site in Nueva Scotia is “the only option,” the BBC said. His group is making an offer to relocate the ORCAS in the eastern province of Canada despite the fact that the French Ministry of Ecology is rejected earlier this year.
A petition is the French government to send to Wikie and Keijo to the coastal shelter in Nueva Scotia, and last October, three environmental icons: Dr. Ir. Jane Goodall, Dr. Sylvia Earle and Jean-Michel Cousteau signed a letter of recommendation that the Orcas are relocated to the Sanctuary of the Sea.
Mohamad Salaheldin Abdelg Alsayed/Anadolu through Getty Images 
After the Spanish prohibition decision, Marineland hoped to transfer the orcs to a park in Japan. But the measure was blocked by the French government, which demanded a transfer to a European park with higher well -being.
However, the Spanish government, which said that the facilities there “did not meet the requirements”, for French officials, a solution that involved the only installation of this type, in Tenerife, Spain, was vetoed last month, which said the facilities “did not meet the requirements”, according to French officials.
NGOs, including a voice and sea shepherd, have requested permission to send specialists to Marineland to verify the orcs.
Born in captivity, the two mammals cannot survive alone.
The long-term solution, the French ministry and the NGOs agree, should see the establishment of a marine sanctuary where orcs and dolphins could be served in semi-nilvestres conditions.
Such a solution would cost $ 2.2-3.3 million per year, Chordination to Riddell.
It is estimated that Wikie and Keijo still have decades to live, in adequate conditions.
