The group behind a plan to build a coastal refuge in Nova Scotia for captive whales says its bid to provide sanctuary to two orcas from a theme park in France has been rejected by the French government.
Lori Marino, president of the Whale Sanctuary Project, issued a statement today saying France has turned down the group’s proposal to provide a oceanside retirement home for Wikie and Keijo, the two surviving killer whales at Marineland Antibes.
Marino says the proposal, submitted last April, was rejected because officials with France’s Ecological Diversity Department were concerned about water temperatures in Nova Scotia, saying there could be a problem if the whales did not acclimatize quickly.
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As well, the department said in a letter that the proposal may not meet the scheduling requirements of the marine park on the French Riviera, which was closed earlier this month to comply with a French law that bans dolphin and killer whale performances.
The law says the whales must be moved outside France by the end of this year, but the Whale Sanctuary Project has yet to complete construction of a seaside pen in a bay near Port Hilford on Nova Scotia’s eastern shore.
Charles Vinick, the project’s executive director, has said a smaller version of what is planned could have been made available in time.
Marino’s statement says France’s decision means Wikie and Keijo will be sent to Spain’s Loro Parque zoo in the Canary Islands, off the northwest coast of Africa.
She says French officials should reconsider their decision because she says that zoo has a checkered history.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 28, 2025.
© 2025 The Canadian Press
France rejects bid to move two killer whales to proposed refuge in Nova Scotia
