Côte d’Azur: end clap for the orcas and dolphins of Marineland

After more than fifty years of existence, the Marineland of Antibes (Alpes-Maritimes) definitively closed its doors to the public on Sunday, with the last show of its orcas, Wikie and Keijo, victim of the disaffection of the public but also of the legislation banning cetacean shows.

“Our hearts are in pieces”: like Salomé Mathis, a young caregiver who came to say goodbye to her ex-colleagues at the water park, visitors and employees expressed their dismay.

“We don’t yet realize that these animals are going to be separated and taken very far away”the 23-year-old young woman, who left to work today in another animal park, the African Safari in Toulouse, is saddened in front of the sea lion pool.

Hugging one of her former colleagues, she cannot help but burst into tears under the occasional drizzle in the middle of the installations of what was, for years, the flagship attraction of the Côte d’Azur, with up to one and a half million visitors per year.

“I understand that it is closing with the drop in attendance, but I am disappointed because we could have evolved differently”laments Jérémy Lo Vasco, 34 years old, a keeper for ten years in this park which presented itself as the first marine zoo in Europe and employed 103 permanent staff and some 500 seasonal workers.

“For the moment, we are not thinking about our own fate because our priority is that the animals are well, but the blow will come later”he laments.

He evokes a “snowball effect” with the floods of 2015 which drowned the site, the release of the film « Blackfish » denouncing the captivity of cetaceans, the demonstrations of opponents and the evolution of the public and finally the Covid, all events which have undermined the attendance of the park and led its owner, the Spanish group Parques Reunidos, to announce its definitive closure , only fun activities that must be maintained during the summer season.

Opened in 1970

The final blow was given by the law of November 30, 2021 which bans shows with orcas or dolphins from the end of 2026. However, according to the park management, 90% of visitors, increasing in ten years from 1.2 million to 425,000 per year, came for these performances.

“It’s a world that amazed me, (…), by coming back here regularly we become attached to it”explains Jade Ronda, 20, a real estate employee who had recently discovered the park and fell in love with it.

At the ticket office, where more than a thousand tickets had been sold before noon – the crowd usually reached in summer – the employee preferred to remain silent. After twenty-seven years of home, “psychologically, it’s hard”she just blurted out.

“All employees will benefit from individual support as part of the job protection plan. There are some, like dolphin trainers, whose profession will disappear”slips a management official wishing to remain anonymous.

With his bags full of sweets, « Mamie Nougat »as park employees nicknamed her, came to distribute her sweets to the staff. “The shows are magnificent, you have to see this interaction between the keepers and the animals, it’s fantastic”already regrets the retiree from Nice, who came for the latter.

The closure of Marineland puts an end to a story that began when Count Roland Paulze d’Ivoy de La Poype, hero of the Second World War, opened this park, modeled on what he had seen in the United States. entirely dedicated to marine fauna.

“The true vocation of Marineland has always been the protection of marine animals. When I created it, in 1970, dolphins, orcas and seals were only game hunted with general indifference.he declared in 1990 during the 20th anniversary of the park.

On Sunday, Wikie and Keijo, the last two orcas of Marineland, gave their final performance, to thunderous applause. The French authorities having refused their transfer to Japan, their future destination remains uncertain, just like that of the 4,000 other animals of 150 different species (dolphins, sea lions, turtles, fish, corals, etc.) which populate the park’s pools.