In 2017, the French government passed legislation aimed at phasing out all whale and dolphin captivity in that country.  Canada was to follow suit two years later.  Each instance reflected a growing awareness among the public of the poor quality of life experienced by cetaceans in captivity.  What we’ve learned since then has reinforced what we already knew about the appalling conditions they are forced to endure, highlighting the need for similar legislation everywhere they continue to be held.  But, unfortunately, it’s also demonstrated to us just how difficult it is to disempower these vile enterprises while continuing to look out for the best interests of their victims.

One case that’s garnered a great deal of well-deserved attention lately is that of Moana, a 10-year old male orca held at Marineland Antibes on the French Riviera.

Moana’s health is a grave concern to park observers and marine mammal experts alike, owing to the “increasingly unsuitable conditions” in which he and three others are being held.   Though only 10 years old (orcas in the wild can live from 60 to 90 years) it’s believed that Moana is suffering from sub-dermal wounds that threaten his life. And his state appears to be worsening, with his chin being damaged and in very poor shape, and even the color of his skin having changed.  A veterinarian specializing in cetaceans believes that Moana needs immediate care to save his life.  

Another expert who’s weighed in on Moana’s case is Dr Ingrid Visser , a marine biologist who specializes in orcas…

“The facility is small and in a bad state (and is deteriorating) and the poor quality of the water is worrying. I think that the data relating to Moana’s nutrition, health, behaviour, and aggression, as well as that related to the quality of the water, should be made accessible for independent orca experts.”

The new laws in both France and Canada prohibit marine parks from either breeding their captives or acquiring new ones, with the ultimate intent of banishing this cruel and archaic industry from their respective soils. However, in both cases existing facilities were permitted to keep the whales and dolphins they already had.  This is not surprising given the enormous challenges and cost of making alternate arrangements for any cetacean that’s been held for a significant period of time.  For those unfortunate individuals who were already held when these laws were passed, the prospect of liberty remained tenuous and out in the indefinite future.

The problem is that keeping a large, complex marine mammal in captivity is expensive.  The cost of its ‘maintenance’ (though I hate to use such a term when applying it to a higher-order, sentient being) can only be covered by using it to create a number of revenue streams.  The new laws cut into those because of the stress placed on the animals by measures used to compel performances, or to force interactions with the paying public. Direct contact with humans was prohibited, putting an end to swim-with-the-dolphins attractions.  In Canada they could be kept on display, but could no longer be used in shows.  In France aquariums were required to make their pools and tanks considerably larger, though they were given three years to comply.  

What we’ve been seeing is that as revenues decline, this dying industry lets conditions in their facilities deteriorate.  The animals still forced to live there pay the price.  This is precisely what’s been happening here in Canada, with conditions at Marineland (Niagara Falls) sinking to the level that criminal neglect would be the appropriate term to describe the situation.  An example – at both Marineland Antibes and Niagara Falls – the worsening water quality has been cited as a factor exacerbating poor health for its captive cetaceans.  This has certainly been the case for Moana.  

On top of all this is the fact that life in a featureless concrete tank is mentally debilitating for an animal of such intelligence.  According to World Animal Protection, “At Marineland in Antibes, just like [the other three orcas:  Inouk, Wikie and Keijo], Moana goes round in circles in the filthy waters of the aging dolphinarium.”  This kind of life, this inability to make independent decisions or to swim free, is stressful and is well known to compromise cetaceans’ immune systems.  Not to mention their mental health.  It’s shameful that we let this take place right under our noses.

As a marine park winds down, it only gets worse, and for its residents life becomes increasingly unbearable.

To make matters worse, neither country’s laws have adequately addressed the fact that these facilities will look for opportunities to sell their residents abroad to try to recoup some of their losses.  Usually, potential buyers are in places where standards of care may be much lower.  Or, they will be permitted to use the whales in captive breeding programs, which only perpetuates the injustice indefinitely, albeit in someone else’s backyard.  France and Canada – or anyone else for that matter – must not let themselves be complicit in this.  The risk that Moana and his three tank-mates will be sold to aquariums in China still exists!

Also, we shouldn’t be fooled by exceptions in the law that permit keeping the whales for research.  What is it that we hope to learn, exactly, by forcing them to live in these confined, artificial environments?  How their health fails?  Or how the loss of their liberty makes them suffer?  Life at Marineland doesn’t teach us a damned thing about how an orca behaves in the wild.  The law needs to be written to serve what’s in their best interests, nothing else.

Moana’s case has resulted in the filing of a criminal complaint against Marineland Antibes for acts of cruelty.  We sincerely hope this legal effort will be successful, and soon enough to make a difference for this young orca.  Petitioners have requested an independent investigation, as well as a ‘precautionary foreclosure’ that would put a stop to all shows, and to his being the subject of studies or experimentation.  It would also prevent his (and by extension the other three orcas) being transferred to other facilities.  They’ve also requested that Moana be entrusted to their care, in the hope that he can one day be transferred to a marine sanctuary.

Bottom line – Marineland should not be allowed to let these whales suffer, even endangering their lives, by continuing to operate with their facility in such an abysmal state of deterioration.

France and Canada join a growing list of countries that have begun to phase out and ban cetacean captivity.  In 2013, India stepped up best of all, not only banning cetacean captivity outright, but declaring that dolphins have personhood rights.  This was the best possible solution, but it should be noted that a complete and immediate ban was only possible because planned facilities hadn’t really come on line yet.  Work in progress to put these in place was brought to an end, but the truly difficult part of dismantling them and rehabilitating the captives for release to the wild (or being moved to sanctuaries) wasn’t necessary, because these captives didn’t yet exist.  

Far better that these horrible places never get built in the first place.  Otherwise, as we work through the daunting and difficult process of creating a better life for the world’s 3,600+ captive whales and dolphins, stories like Moana’s will continue to haunt us.

For The Orca’s Voice, 

Anna, Canadian Cetacean Alliance