Animal welfare groups say the transfer of Marineland Antibes's remaining dolphins to Spanish delphinariums could begin within weeks, more than a year after the park's marine mammal shows closed for good. A demonstration is planned outside the park on Wednesday, July 1.
Marineland, once the largest delphinarium in Europe, has kept its two orcas and twelve dolphins in their pools since the site's marine mammal operations closed in January 2025, under the terms of a 2021 law banning the keeping and breeding of cetaceans in for-profit facilities in France. More than a year on, their fate is still being worked out by the French government.
According to the animal rights organisation One Voice, which says it is relying on internal sources, around eight of the dolphins are expected to move to a delphinarium in Malaga and four more to Valencia, with transfers possible from mid-July. Four animals — Sharky, Malou, Nala and Ollie — are understood to be bound for Valencia on a permanent basis. Nala's transfer would separate her from her daughter Lua, who was born and raised at Marineland.
The French government has confirmed the dolphins' move to the ZooParc de Beauval in the Loir-et-Cher is going ahead, alongside the prospective transfer of the park's two orcas, Wikie and her son Keijo, to Loro Parque in Tenerife. That move is not yet finalised. Spain's own CITES scientific authority has spoken out against the orcas' arrival at Loro Parque, leaving the Spanish government's final decision as the last real obstacle to the transfer going ahead.
Campaigners argue the move runs counter to the spirit of the 2021 law. One Voice says relocating the animals to larger, multi-orca facilities such as Loro Parque would expose Wikie and Keijo to smaller pools and unfamiliar, potentially aggressive tank-mates, and that the decision is being driven by the commercial interests of Marineland's owner, Parques Reunidos, rather than the animals' welfare.
Lawyers for campaign group C'est Assez, which won a 2024 Conseil d'État ruling on the conditions under which transfers can be authorised, say any move must not be driven primarily by commercial motives and must guarantee conditions at least as good as those the animals currently have at Antibes.
One Voice has called for supporters to gather outside Marineland in Antibes on Wednesday, July 1, demanding a sanctuary for the orcas and the park's remaining dolphins rather than transfer to another commercial facility. The group says it has previously helped block proposed transfers of Marineland's orcas to China in 2019 and Japan in 2024.
Blue Coast News will continue to follow developments as the transfer timeline becomes clearer.