• The One Voice association made a “request for expertise on the state of the basins [of Marineland], of the water, and the problems that this causes on the state of health and well-being of killer whales kept at the dolphinarium”.

  • Two cetaceans would present "serious health problems" according to her, which the Antibes marine park denies.

  • The Grasse court is due to rule on Thursday on the request for the appointment of an expert.

Will an expert be mandated by the courts to go and examine two orcas from Marineland who, according to One Voice, are suffering from "serious health problems"?

Seized by the association, the Grasse court must decide on Thursday and decide whether or not to send a specialist to investigate the fate of Moana, 11, and Inouk, 23.

One Voice, which multiplies initiatives against the Antibes park and which campaigns for these animals to be sent to sanctuaries, launched an alert last November.

The youngest of the two cetaceans would suffer, like his uncle, from “very worrying subdermal lesions […]” and would require “urgent veterinary care”.

One Voice even announced the filing of a complaint for acts of cruelty.

An accusation "as unfounded as it is slanderous", according to the management of the zoo.

She recalled that “Marineland has never been condemned to anything” and broadcast, in response, a video of the animal playing with a caretaker.

Marineland mocked "a veterinary diagnosis without examining the animal"

The NGO then relied on the conclusions of a marine biologist and a veterinarian, based on photos taken between 2016 and the end of 2021: the state of health of the orcas would be the result "of acute and chronic stress factors associated to unnatural confinement in an extremely poorly maintained facility”.

She was directly sent back to the ropes.

“How can a so-called scientist make a veterinary diagnosis without auscultating the animal”, questioned the park.

It is therefore to confirm the conclusions of Drs Ingrid Visser and Pierre Gallego that justice was again seized in summary proceedings.

“We are precisely asking that the court decide to order an independent expert report, explains One Voice.

We are not asking to have access to the animals, nor that the experts we called on have them.

The goal is to assess the state of health of Inouk and Moana, and more broadly that of the water and the facilities, but always with this in mind.

»

“Our priority mission is to guarantee animal health”

Solicited this week by

20 Minutes

, Marineland explains "waiting for the court decision to speak".

The park recalled at the end of last year that "the inspections carried out very regularly by State services have highlighted the good conditions in which the animals are housed".

“Our priority mission is to guarantee the health and well-being of animals.

We thus ensure this mission every day of the year with professionalism and passion, ”he also supported a Facebook publication.

At the end of last year, parliament definitively adopted a bill against animal abuse which notably provides for the prohibition for zoos to keep cetaceans from 2026. Unless they are authorized to do research on them. .

"We already participate in almost all the scientific programs that exist and we are candidates for those that the ministry could create", explained the director of the park, Pascal Picot, in March, at

20 Minutes

.

"It's our job," he added.

Planet

Antibes: Marineland and One Voice disagree on the state of health of the orca Moana

Planet

Activists and scientists warn about the health of orcas in captivity at Marineland

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