PORT HILFORD — The two orcas remaining at Marineland Antibes, France, could be moved to the Whale Sanctuary Project (WSP) in Port Hilford – following months of technical analysis, inspections and consultations with experts – as soon as next summer.
The decision to transfer the animals to Nova Scotia was announced Dec. 13 by Mathieu Lefèvre, the French minister delegate to the minister of ecological transition, biodiversity and international negotiations on climate and nature, who said the move reflects the government’s responsibility to ensure animal welfare.
“The state is acting responsibly and consistently,” Lefèvre said in a press release. “After reviewing all the options, we are now making the necessary decisions to ensure the welfare of the animals. Their place is at the sanctuary in Nova Scotia.”
With the a provincial Crown lands lease granted to the WSP in October, the way is paved for the mother-and-son orcas Wikie and Keijo, which could arrive at the end of summer 2026, according to executive director Charles Vinick.
“That’s the timing we have established for – on a fast track,” he told The Journal by telephone earlier this week, noting that a $15 million campaign underway includes raising the remaining funds needed to build the sanctuary. “We need to start construction next month. With a plan, we need to move forward month by month.”
Lefèvre said the decision to move the orcas from Marineland Antibes was the only ethical solution that accords with France’s 2021 animal welfare legislation.
“Our role is to protect these animals and to lay the foundation for an exemplary model of transition to marine sanctuaries,” he said.
The Spanish government had earlier refused to accept the whales at its marine zoo, Loro Parque de Tenerife, citing concerns the animals could again be used for entertainment purposes. For the same reason, officials also confirmed that dolphins remaining at Antibes will not be transferred to Spain, but instead moved to temporary accommodations in France pending the availability of more permanent facilities.
“I think it’s very clear that there are no other options for the orcas,” Vinick said. “The situation around the world is that we must try to create – and need to create – sanctuaries for whales and dolphins.”
When the French government sought proposals regarding the future of the orcas in 2024, the WSP submitted a proposal that was “well received at the time,” Vinick said, but added that France preferred to seek a European solution.
Although the WSP had heard nothing further over the past year, he said the French ministry reached out to him two weeks ago through its consulate in Ottawa.
“I spoke with the attaché and he organized meetings for me directly with the minister of ecological transition – the department in Paris, France, that has the authority,” Vinick said.
Vinick noted site work includes refurbishing the wharf, installing a septic system and drilling and piping a well to the site. Buildings are also required to support veterinary, care and marine operations teams. He added that the nets will be fabricated off-site, then installed along with the anchoring system.
“All of the design work has already been done,” he said, “but now we need to move forward and get cracking on the construction.”
Once the sanctuary is completed and the orcas receive the necessary clearance, 21-year-old Wikie and her 11-year-old son Keijo will travel by airplane – contained in watertight boxes and secured in specialized slings or stretchers – to Halifax Stanfield International Airport. Upon arrival, they will be transported by truck to the sanctuary.
“It sounds complicated and it is – it takes a team of experts to do it,” Vinick said. He compared the process to how Keiko, the whale from Free Willy, was moved more than 25 years ago.
In its first year, Vinick said the sanctuary – conceived to accommodate primarily belugas – will only take one species of whale. “They [orcas and belugas] cannot be in the same pen at the same time,” he said. “Nor do we have the capacity to handle both the first year.”
He added: “The time is upon us. That’s the situation in France today, and we want to do everything in every way that we can.”
In an email to The Journal, Municipality of the District of St. Mary’s Warden James Fuller said “a chance for a non-commercial life for these two whales can be viewed as nothing but positive.”
In an earlier statement, following the provincial government’s Crown Lands approval, he said the sanctuary aligned with municipal goals for sustainable development, conservation and environmental education, noting, “These developments are promising in ensuring improved health and well-being of these magnificent creatures who will be coming to our pristine natural environment of Nova Scotia’s coastal waters.”
France’s decision, however, has not swayed at least one landowner in Wine Harbour who says she is not alone in opposing the sanctuary being built there.
“Our concerns with this project remain unchanged and are only amplified by this announcement,” wrote Tracy Burns-Gagnon in an email to The Journal.
“As landowners and opponents of this project, our hope is that all levels of government begin to listen to what the experts in animal welfare are saying and put a stop to this immediately,” she said, adding that officials need to prevent the whales from being sent to “an environmentally unsafe environment” and to “a project with an unrealistic construction timeline and a price tag that sets this proposal up for failure from day one.”
As for fundraising, Vinick noted the effort will not just depend on major donors.
“We certainly need our major donors,” he said, “but we need everyone – and we will need them going forward – to care for the whales.”
From donations big or small to the idea of people adopting individual whales, he added, “that’s where I see the general public – wanting to help them.”
