Pascal Picot, director general of Marineland in Antibes, the largest marine park in Europe, reacts this Thursday to the bill on animal abuse, voted on at first reading by the deputies.
The text, which will have to be examined by the senators, provides in particular for the prohibition for dolphinariums to hold cetaceans within two years for orcas and seven years for dolphins.
How do you react to the vote of the deputies?
PASCAL PICOT.
We have a feeling of injustice.
We do not find it normal that the professionals were not consulted while the animal associations opposed to our activity were.
The decision was biased and MPs voted with one side of the story.
We find that quite curious and unfair.
All in all, we had only one video meeting with Barbara Pompili, the Minister of Ecological Transition in the fall.
The decisions were already made, the meeting was cut short.
We can not do anything.
We are waiting to know when it will pass to the Senate and then, afterwards, we will try to inform as many senators as possible about our reality and the role played by marine or land zoos.
If the text is definitively adopted, will the park be able to do without dolphins and killer whales?
94% of our visitors come to see killer whales and dolphins.
But the problem is not there.
If the bill goes to the end, what do we do with the animals?
Where are they going, under what conditions and in which country?
Who pays ?
With this text, we are talking about animal welfare but we are absolutely not concerned with the fate of the animals that we currently have in our parks.
Can the marine sanctuaries defended by several associations to release cetaceans be a solution?
This can be a lead in several years, provided that someone pays for the research, the studies, the installations.
What the associations are talking about are marine enclosures that require the presence of healers, veterinarians, supplies, food.
Today, it is forbidden in France to return captive wildlife to the natural environment.
For the moment, that does not exist in our country.
Newsletter The list of our desires
Our favorites for fun and culture.
Subscribe to the newsletterAll newsletters
Isn't this an opportunity to think about other activities?
In such a short time, there is no time to turn around and it can be an economic disaster.
If you want to do a project worthy of the name with architectural studies, environmental impact, to file building permits and find funds, it is impossible especially since Marineland, in part, is located in red flood zone which makes things even more complicated.
Our current priority is the well-being of our animals and not to lay off anyone, which prevents us from investing in development projects, especially if our activity is banned in two or seven years.
Isn't the end of dolphinaria ultimately in tune with the times, as shown by Parc Astérix's decision to part ways with its dolphins?
The real question is not about dolphins or killer whales.
But what is the role of zoos in the 21st century?
We are an actor in ecology, environmental protection, education when we see the number of children that we educate each year.
READ ALSO>
Parc Asterix closes its dolphinarium: "With us, it was becoming almost incongruous"
Zoos are scientific platforms.
We participate in a lot of conservation programs.
For example, Marineland treats sea turtles found in the Alpes-Maritimes or the Var.
All this is possible only because we have professionals.
If tomorrow we are no longer there, no one will.
