Whales in France need a new home

Killer whales left in limbo - 17th March 2025

In France, the implementation of a law in 2020 against keeping marine mammals in captivity has resulted in an uncertain future for two killer whales. The pair of orcas, Wikie aged 23 and her 11-year-old male offspring Keijo, are the only two such animals remaining in the country.

It's sparked a heated debate over what to do with the mammals, who've been living at Marineland, in the south of France, since they were born. Although Kobe Suma Sea World in Japan proposed relocating them there, French Ecology minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher intervened, citing concerns regarding Japan's more lax animal welfare laws.

Animal rights campaigners have argued the killer whales should be housed in a sanctuary, where enforced performances to spectators and participation in breeding programmes would be a thing of the past for the two orcas. The Whale Sanctuary Project, Canada, suggested rehoming the mammals in their sanctuary positioned off the Nova Scotia coast. That time, the offer was turned down on the basis that it was too far away and unsuitable temperature-wise for whales acclimatised to the south of France.

Pannier-Runacher's latest proposal is to construct a sanctuary in Europe in conjunction with Spain, Italy and Greece. In turn, the Canadians have countered this suggestion in correspondence with the minister, where they cite Dr David Perpiñán of the European College of Zoological Medicine. The specialist has stated that "Wikie and Keijo's origin is Iceland. These two orcas do not belong to the ecotypes seen in the Mediterranean," noting that establishing a sanctuary there "is probably the worst of the possible options."

Also throwing their hat into the ring is Loro Parque, a marine zoo on the Spanish island of Tenerife. Vice-President of the facility Christoph Kiessling holds that sanctuaries are "currently unable to meet the complex physiological, social and environmental needs of orcas."

As France celebrates the year of the sea, Wikie and Keijo find themselves marooned in a facility which is being wound down around them. Unlike the orca star of the film Free Willy, however, being released into the wild isn't an option.