The death of an orca at Marineland in Antibes: why the water park is under fire

The park announced Inouka’s death six months after the death of another killer whale, Moana. The Animal Welfare Society will file a “mistreatment” complaint.

The Black Series at Marineland in Antibes. The Alpes-Maritimes Water Park announced the death of the orca Inouk, a 25-year-old male, on Thursday, March 28. “This is terrible news that affects the animal keepers and all the Marineland teams,” writes the park in a press release. An autopsy must be performed “in the coming days” to find out the causes of his death. But the announcement comes just six months after the death of another killer whale, Moana, Inouko’s 12-year-old nephew. There are only two killer whales left in Antibes: Wikie, 22 years old, and Keijo, 10 years old.

Animal rights group One Voice responded by filing a “cruelty” complaint against the park. “It is not normal for an orca of only 25 years of age to die in the conditions we have warned against,” he declared on franceinfo as the president of the organization. Since its opening in 1970, the Antibes park, which boasts 750,000 annual visitors, has been criticized for the conditions in which cetaceans are kept in captivity, which they are also at the heart of the debate about a possible transfer abroad. Franceinfo takes inventory.

Conditions of captivity set aside

One Voice has already filed several complaints against Marineland since 2019, denouncing the mistreatment of orcas based on images of the cetaceans and expert reports. In September 2023, the Court of Appeal in Aix-en-Provence, based on a new request by the organization, ordered an expertise on the health and living conditions of these animals. One Voice experts recorded in cetaceans “repetitive and stereotyped behavior”subdermal lesions for Moana and extremely worn teeth for Inouk.

The male Moana died a month later in the park, again angering animal rights activists. “Those responsible will have to be held accountable, we will take care of it,” One Voice warned. After months of investigation, the park finally announced in February that the latest autopsy linked Moana’s death to “acute bacterial sepsis that occurs naturally in nature” according to a press release.

Since 1970, several associations have filed complaints against the Marineland of Antibes, INA recalls. The park’s history has been marked by other deaths. In 1960, the center’s first killer whale, Calypso, died after only a year in captivity. Captured by the United States in 1970 and taken to Antibes, Clovis died three years later. In 1978, Betty was captured in Iceland; nine years later, at the age of 13, she succumbed to pneumonia in Antibes, recalls France 3 Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur.

Although it is difficult to determine the normal lifespan of killer whales, they usually live for several decades in the wild, and even in captivity some have reached fifty. Marineland states on its website “to guarantee the health and welfare of animals by applying or even exceeding the latest national and international acceptance criteria”.

Accusations of “illegal trade”

In December 2023, the Bordeaux association Defense of Aquatic Environments launches a procedure for “illegal trade” in protected wild species against the Marineland park in Antibes. “We have obtained documents about these killer whales that we suspect are fake”, explains Philippe Garcia, its president, to franceinfo. First, “We believe the cetaceans arrived in the park illegally.” On the other hand, “we deny the commercial use of these animals”, he said. “A wild animal cannot be in captivity except to be treated there,” pleads Philippe Garcia. Inouk and Moana were born in captivity in Antibes, as were the park’s two remaining killer whales, Wikie and Keijo. But their ancestors were captured at sea before being relocated to the park.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also called the Washington Convention, regulates border crossings for more than 38,000 species of animals and plants at various levels. Each animal that enters the aquarium is accompanied by its own certificate issued in France by the Regional Directorate for the Environment, Development and Housing (Dreal). The complaint filed by the Defense of Aquatic Environments also involves Agent Dreal. “We have not been contacted by the authorities regarding this complaint and therefore have no comment”the institution responded to AFP in December.

Concerns about the future of other killer whales in the park

The Alpes-Maritimes Park is also preparing for the entry into force of the 2021 law against animal cruelty. This text will ban cetacean exhibitions in France from December 2026 and, unless exempted, the captive breeding of orcas and dolphins in the park. With this in mind, One Voice confirms that Marineland wants to sell its orcas to Japan, a country that is less protective of orcas.

“This is the information that reaches us from inside the park“, the president of the association, Muriel Arnal, assured France 3 Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur in December. It is feared that these cetaceans will be sold to the park “located in Kobe, $2 million each.” Contacted by France 3, Marineland did not comment. One Voice is campaigning for killer whales to be welcomed into a marine sanctuary. But the zoo objects that France has not created such a sanctuary – the one recommended by the association is in Canada.

Beginning In January, both the Ministry of Ecological Transformation and the office of then-Secretary of State for Biodiversity Sarah El Haïra said they had not issued “no permission” for the transfer of killer whales abroad. “Without this permission no journey can be contemplated”, assured the company. Fearing that the animals would leave, One Voice took legal action regarding the health of the cetaceans. In mid-January, the Court of Justice in Grasse ordered Marineland to keep its orcas for at least another four months, allowing time for a veterinary expertise to be completed.