Video with Orcas, which circles for their fate in Pool Sparks infected by Alga

A video that was published online by two orcas, which circled in a pool in southern France, which was affected by algae, has brought a new wave of worldwide concern about the 24-year-old Wikie and her 11-year-old veal Keijo.

France has difficulty finding a new home for mother and son after its owner, a Marine Park on the French Riviera, has been concluded with a law with Marine mammals.

Marineland was founded in the city of Antibes in 1970 and was closed to the public in January after a decline in those present and the law in 2021.

In February the management of the park submitted an inquiry, the two orcas, also known as known as urgent Killer whaleAnd 12 dolphins for two parks in Spain, but the move was blocked by the Spanish authorities that the facilities were adjusted for them.

“The situation at Marineland Antibes is an emergency,” said the NGO-Tiebreaker based in Canada in a social media post after the video was published.

Here you will find the official explanation of Tidebreakers about the situation of 2 Orcas and 12 dolphins that remain in a closed Marineland -Antibes. pic.twitter.com/svbuaaiVype

– Tidebreaker (@Tide_breakers) May 18, 2025

“Leaving it in a closed facility that is limited to a crumbling, dilapidated tank is simply not an option,” it said.

If the two orcas get sick, you will “probably put or succumb to the deteriorating environment,” warned the group.

The video, which was shot by a drone at the beginning of this month, shows the two orcas and dolphins in tanks, whose edges are green with algae, in the middle of installations that were previously used for other sea animals in Brackwasser.

The park management contacted by AFP said that the orca and dolphin pools remained well maintained and that around 50 employees were still working for the well-being of the animals.

The algae visible in the pictures were a normal phenomenon and explained that algae pores are present in the filtered sea water that the pools develop every spring when the water heats up.

They were not harmful to the animals and were regularly removed by brushes, said management.

This explanation was supported by Mike Riddell, who managed the park for 26 years before he was released in a change of ownership in 2006.

AFP images that were recorded during a press search in May 2020 showed similar fine algae that covered the edges of the pool.

However, the Tidebreakers film material led to strong reactions, which, according to the park, even included murder threats to the staff.

Officials said they shared the concerns of the NGO, but the attempts by the park to find an emergency solution with the employees of the Minister of France Agnes Pannier-Runacher have come to nothing.

The ministries contacted by AFP said that the authorities “ensured that the animals are still accommodated under good conditions until their future goal is punished”, and that the park was looking for “alternative solutions”.

“The only option left”

Animal rights groups want the orcas to be dissolved in a whale protection area where they have more space for swimming and are not forced to breed or appear in shows, the BBC previously reported.

Lori Marino, President of the Whale Sanctuary Project (WSP), said that her website in Nova Scotia was “the only option that is left”, the BBC reported. Their group offers to build the orcas in the eastern Canadian province, although the French Ministry of Ecology was rejected at the beginning of this year.

The French government calls on a petition to send Wikie and Keijo into coastal protection in Nova Scotia, and signed three environmentalon dr. In October last October. Jane Goodall, Dr. Sylvia Earle and Jean-Michel Cousteau-a letter in which he recommends that the orcas are forwarded to the Sea Sanctuar.

After the Spanish ban's decision, Marineland had hoped to transfer the Orcas to a park in Japan. However, the move was blocked by the French government, which demanded a transfer to a European park with higher welfare standards.

A solution in which the only facility in Tenerife, Spain, was involved was filed by the Spanish government last month, which said that according to French officials, the facilities there “did not meet the requirements”.

NGOs, including a language and Sea Shepherd, asked for permission to send specialists to Marineland to look after the orcas.

The two mammals born in captivity cannot survive alone.

The long -term solution, the French Ministry and the NGOs, should recognize the establishment of a sea protection area in which orcas and dolphins could be looked after under semi -wiled conditions.

According to Riddell, such a solution would cost $ 2.2 to 3.3 million per year.

It is estimated that Wikie and Keijo still have decades under appropriate conditions.