WARNING, GRAPHIC IMAGES: Wikie, 23, and her 11-year-old son Keijo are the last two killer whales in France and due to the closure of the Marineland Antibes they have been left to rot in their tank
The orcas are fed by a skeleton staff of former theme park workers
Time is of the essence for two captive killer whales abandoned in a deteriorating marine zoo, with their lives hanging in the balance without immediate intervention.
Wikie, aged 23, and her 11 year old son Keijo are confined to a decaying enclosure, aimlessly swimming in circles as they await an uncertain future.
Born in captivity, these orcas could never survive in the wild. They were left behind in their dilapidated tanks when Marineland Antibes in southern France permanently shut its doors in January 2025.
Now devoid of any mental stimulation, the orcas are left to seek amusement within their enclosure as green algae gradually engulfs the deserted park.
Aerial footage captured by activist group Tidebreakers reveals the grim conditions in which the animals now exist. Green slime accumulates around the perimeter of their pool, while an adjacent tank is half-filled with murky brown water, reports the Mirror.
In a nearby smaller tank, 12 stranded bottlenose dolphins are the park’s only other residents, and their fate remains equally uncertain.
A minimal staff team visits to feed the animals, fulfilling the management company’s legal care obligations, but they provide little in terms of mental enrichment – a crucial aspect of care for socially bonded pod orcas.
Wikie and Keijo, the last two captive orcas in France, have spent years performing for cheering crowds alongside their trainers. They are currently under the legal guardianship of Marineland management until a new home is found for them, yet their owners have declared that the orcas must “leave now” for their own well-being.
“Marineland reaffirms the extreme urgency of transferring the animals to an operational destination,” the park stated.
One of the orcas performing for crowds in Marineland Antibes, where they have lived since birth(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Speaking to the Mirror, Marketa Schusterova, co-founder of Tidebreakers, expressed her concern over the loss of half of the orcas’ bonded pod. Wikie’s son Moana passed away unexpectedly in 2023 at just 12 years old, and another son, Inouk, died after swallowing a small piece of metal that had fallen into his enclosure.
“We know from reviewing footage [of Marineland] that the tank is causing a hazard,” Marketa explained. “We know that it’s not being cleaned, it’s falling apart. It’s a hazard for these orca every day.”
Marketa also voiced her fears about the critical situation: “We are very worried that the situation is so critical, and the water quality is deteriorating to the point that it’s going to cause health issues to these whales, and they’re going to be euthanised before they get a chance to actually see a sanctuary,” she said. “which is tragic because the male, Keijo, is only 11 years old, the mother is 23. Orcas in the wild can live to human age, outside of captivity they can live to 70 or 80 years old.”
A proposed transfer of two orcas to Loro Parque marine zoo in Tenerife was recently thwarted, despite the facility already housing four captive orcas, including a calf born in March this year. The scientific panel responsible for approving such moves stated that the new enclosure would “not meet the minimum requirements in terms of surface area, volume and depth necessary to house the specimens in optimal conditions”.
Aerial footage taken by activists Tidebreakers above the rotting theme park shows the grim conditions
An alternative relocation to a marine park in Japan was similarly dismissed, while French ecology minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher expressed her desire in February to locate a European sanctuary for the duo, but has yet to identify an appropriate venue.
Activists are advocating for the mother and son orcas to be transferred to a Canadian site in Nova Scotia, which offers a 1,00-acre bay sectioned off by 1,600m of secure nets.
The Whale Sanctuary Project (WSP) insists their facility is the “only option left” for Wikie and Keijo, providing them with a space far larger than any pool.
However, Tidebreakers have voiced concerns that the WSP’s project is far from completion, worrying that the orcas may perish “before WSP has even got a stick in the ground”.
Marketa envisions the ideal solution as the construction of temporary holding tanks tailored to the orcas’ needs until a permanent sanctuary can be established for their lifelong residence.
“Quite simply, if Wikie and Keijo are left in these conditions, they’re going to get sick and die,” she warned.
Drone pictures of the now-closed Marineland in Antibes, France, where two captive orcas and 12 bottlenose dolphins have been abandoned(Image: Anadolu via Getty Images)
Charles Vinick, the CEO of WSP, was previously involved in creating a sanctuary for Keiko, the black-and-white star of the 1993 film Free Willy. Keiko, born in the wild, was captured and taken into captivity in 1979 when he was only two years old.
Keiko was seized off the coast of Iceland and sold to various theme parks where he was trained to perform tricks. He became reliant on human interaction and was ‘hired’ by Warner Brothers to be the star of their film.
Keiko began filming in 1992, but his health deteriorated throughout the production.
He developed skin issues, stomach ulcers and lost weight drastically – so much so that when Free Willy premiered in cinemas, hundreds of thousands of viewers called a hotline pleading for Keiko’s release.
In response to the public outcry, Warner Brothers agreed to retire their star performer and Keiko was relocated to an aquarium in Oregon to start his recovery. His trainers were instructed not to make eye contact with him to lessen his dependency on humans – but this sudden change in behaviour only confused him further.
Eventually, he managed to relearn some survival skills and was released into the wild in 2002, joining a pod of orcas. Tragically, just a year later, he died from pneumonia after contracting an infection.