Spain Says No to Dolphin Transfer

There are new developments in the situation at Marineland d’Antibes in France, where the exploitation of orcas and other dolphins must end by December 2026, according to a French animal welfare law that was put into place in 2021. Marineland d’Antibes originally sought to send its last two surviving orcas — nearly 24-year-old Wikie and her 11-year-old son Keijo, who are both 100 percent Icelandic — to Kobe Suma SeaWorld in Japan. But French authorities refused to issue a transfer permit, as they worried about the country’s animal welfare standards for captive cetaceans. Marineland then came up with the idea of sending Wikie and Keijo to Loro Parque in Tenerife, Spain, where orcas are used in shows and a highly controversial captive orca breeding program. According to the global news agency AFP, Marineland also sought to send 12 bottlenose dolphins to marine parks in Spain. Two of them were reportedly destined for Loro Parque, but at the very last minute, authorities in Spain put a stop to the transaction.

Keto swims along the perimeter of the show tank at Loro Parque’s orca stadium, which has the misleading name “Orca Ocean.” Keto killed his trainer in December 2009, but shows have continued as if nothing happened. Keto, who passed away in November 2024 at the age of 29, sired Morgan’s first calf, a daughter named Ula. Born in September 2018, Ula was 50 percent Norwegian, 37.5 percent Icelandic, and 12.5 percent Southern Resident. The enormous ethical complications of producing hybrid orcas that never would exist in nature doesn’t seem to bother Loro Parque. Ula died in August 2021, about a month before her third birthday. Credit: Helene O’Barry

AFP reports that an official with the French environment ministry has said that a scientific agency in Spain, whose task it is to evaluate the suitability of facilities, “refuses the transfer. ” The Spanish agency reached the conclusion that the tanks at Loro Parque “did not meet minimum standards in terms of area, volume and depth” for the cetaceans.

The decision gives us hope that there are decision makers in Spain who realize the inadequacy of Loro Parque’s orca breeding facility, which already holds three adult orcas (once-wild female orca Morgan and captive-born male orcas Tekoa and Adán) and a young male calf, born on March 31^st. Adding two orcas to the stadium at a time when Morgan and her new calf need time to bond without any chaos and major changes around them would be hugely irresponsible and careless.

Loro Parque’s controversial captive orca breeding program so far has resulted in the births of four hybrid orcas. Two are still alive today. One of them is Morgan’s new son, born on March 31st 2025. Loro Parque has yet to make an official announcement about who the calf’s father is. The other is Adán, who is pictured here with one of his trainers. Adán was born in October 2010. His mother is now-deceased Kohana, and his father is Kohana’s uncle Keto, which means that Adán is inbred. Credit: Helene O’Barry

If the bottlenose dolphins had been sent to Spain, several of them would most likely have been sold to China, where there are no animal welfare laws to protect them. According to AFP News, the owner of Marineland has now been ordered to care for the animals at their park “pending a future solution.” So for now, Wikie, Keijo and Marineland’s bottlenose dolphins will remain in Antibes, France. Members of the animal welfare community have offered to help pay for their care and feeding for as long as it takes to find a humane solution.

Together with other NGOs, we continue our efforts to convince decision makers in France that the time has come to establish real sanctuaries for the country’s non-releasable orcas and bottlenose dolphins.

Featured image: Morgan (pictured in the back) and Kohana jump on command during a show at Loro Parque’s orca stadium in December 2021, just ten months before Kohana’s death in September 2022. Citing inadequate living conditions, a scientific agency in Spain has refused the transfer of Icelandic orcas Wikie and her son Keijo from Marineland d’Antibes in France to Loro Parque in Tenerife where four orcas have died in the last four years. Credit: Helene O’Barry

Sources used in this blog:

Orcas, dolphins stuck in closed French marine park, Yahoo! News, 4/10/25