{"id":101719,"date":"2025-05-14T20:41:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T20:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/101719\/"},"modified":"2025-05-14T20:41:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T20:41:13","slug":"abandoned-theme-park-left-frozen-in-time-where-stranded-orca-whales-and-bottlenose-dolphins-have-been-left-to-rot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/101719\/","title":{"rendered":"Abandoned theme park left ‘frozen in time’ where stranded Orca whales and bottlenose dolphins have been left to rot"},"content":{"rendered":"

AN ABANDONED theme park has been left to rot – with Orca whales and bottlenose dolphins still inside. <\/p>\n

The once-bustling French marine park, Marineland Antibes, shut its doors for the final time in January.<\/p>\n

\"Aerial<\/a><\/p>\n

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Marineland Antibes closed in January 2025Credit: SWNS\"Drone<\/a><\/p>\n

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The abandoned site still has two orca whales insideCredit: SWNS\"Orca<\/a><\/p>\n

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Harrowing footage shows the orcas swimming aimlesslyCredit: SWNS<\/p>\n

Harrowing footage released by TideBreakers shows the abandoned park from above, with its decaying buildings and empty enclosures.<\/p>\n

The two Orca whales and 12 bottlenose dolphins can be seen trapped inside their enclosures.<\/p>\n

The miserable creatures swim aimlessly from one side of the pool to the other, as they desperately try to entertain themselves.<\/p>\n

Grim green algae and sludge surround the whale enclosure, while some of the other pools are filled with murky brown water. <\/p>\n

Wikie, 23, and her 11-year-old son Keijo are France’s last two remaining orca whales. <\/p>\n

But despite ongoing efforts to relocate the animals, French authorities haven’t been able to find a suitable site for them.<\/p>\n

This comes after the Loro Parque marine park in Tenerife, Spain, rejected a request to re home the poor animals due to a lack of capacity.<\/p>\n

The French government has also blocked two re homing deals – one for a marine zoo in Japan and another for a whale sanctuary in Canada.<\/p>\n

TideBreakers has called for the orcas to be rehomed as soon as possible in a sanctuary – rather than another marine park.<\/p>\n

Co-founder of TideBreakers, Marketa Schusterova, said: “These are the last two remaining orcas in captivity in France and they should be moved quickly.<\/p>\n

Orca trainer screamed \u2018I don\u2019t want to die\u2019 as she was ripped apart by trio of bloodthirsty killer whales<\/p>\n

“The orcas need to be removed from dangerous conditions that are posing significant risks to their health and safety.”<\/p>\n

Releasing the animals into the wild simply is not an option as they were both born in captivity and would not survive. <\/p>\n

Marineland Antibes closed in January after dwindling numbers. <\/p>\n

This came after the French government passed new legislation banning certain types of marine shows in 2021. <\/p>\n

The now-abandoned theme park was founded in 1970 by French count Roland de La Poype.<\/p>\n

The impressive site included a marine park with a whale and dolphin enclosure, as well as a water park for children.<\/p>\n

Once the largest\u00a0Orca\u00a0pool complex in the Europe the park was best-known for its shows – with visitors flocking from across the continent to watch them. <\/p>\n

But the park has also been surrounded by scandal.<\/p>\n

Severe flooding hit the park in 2015 killing\u00a0Valentin – a 19-year old male orca born within the park.<\/p>\n

The park was left filled with mud – leaving sharks, sea lions and turtles fighting for their lives. <\/p>\n

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Footage shows abandoned enclosures filled with green algaeCredit: SWNS\"Drone<\/a><\/p>\n

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Brown water fills the abandoned poolsCredit: SWNS<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"AN ABANDONED theme park has been left to rot – with Orca whales and bottlenose dolphins still inside.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":101720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3847],"tags":[933,299,36,70,184,6113,10284,16,15,1717],"class_list":{"0":"post-101719","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-animals","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-france","11":"tag-science","12":"tag-section-newsworld-news","13":"tag-theme-parks","14":"tag-trends","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-wildlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114508129232089565","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=101719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=101719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=101719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=101719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}