Five months after the death of Moana, a new orca, Inouk, a 25-year-old male, died at Marineland in Antibes (Alpes-Maritimes), the animal park announced Thursday. An event which should relaunch the debate on the fate of the last orcas in captivity in France.
An autopsy must be carried out in the coming days and the resumption of orca shows, scheduled for Saturday, is postponed, the zoo said in a press release. After Moana's death in October, it took months of autopsies and analyzes to conclude in early February that an
"acute bacterial septicemia which occurs naturally in nature"
had killed the 12-year-old orca, according to the zoo. .
A few weeks before this first death, French justice had demanded an expert opinion on the state of health of Inouk and Moana, deemed
“pitiful”
by One Voice, an animal rights association. Now only Wikie (22 years old) and Keijo (10 years old) remain at Marineland. Inouk was Wikie's brother and Moana her son, just like Keijo. All were born in Antibes.
Departure pending
Several animal rights associations have regularly expressed concern about their fate, while cetacean shows will be banned from December 2026 in application of a 2021 law against animal mistreatment. A full-scale exercise was carried out in January to prepare for their departure, even if the zoo never communicated on the possible destinations.
One Voice has long campaigned for these orcas to be welcomed in a marine sanctuary and not sent to a less protective country where they would continue to participate in shows. But the zoo argues that France has not created such a sanctuary. In January, the courts ordered Marineland to keep its orcas for at least four months, until the final expert report on their health was submitted. Opened in 1970, the Marineland park in Antibes welcomes an average of 750,000 visitors per year.