Environmental activists filed a legal complaint against a marine park in France following its treatment on its Orca whales as well as other animals on the park after the said animals were perished during a storm. The marine park sustained severe damages following an October storm in southern France.
The Antibes Marineland reopened after recovering from a deadly storm that greatly destroyed the theme park, Yahoo News reported. Most of the marine animals at the water park were perished in the storm, such as an orca whale. The 19 year old orca whale sustained internal injuries and died a week later.
Mud flooded the park that killed other marine animals including sharks, sea lions and turtles, as it was left without electricity to pump in clean water. According to the Guardian, the International NGO Sea Shepherd launched a protest against the French marine park. The protest was carried out on Sunday with around 250 protesters rallied outside the park.
The protesters claim the orca enclosures remain highly unsatisfactory and added, the animals should never have been subject to such harm in the first place. "We are against the keeping of orca whales in captivity because it is simply not where they should be," Paul Watson, the founder of the environmental activist group said.
Since the documentary Blackfish was released in 2013, there had been a great opposition of keeping orcas, also called as killer whales globally. The documentary is about the treatment of orcas inside the US marine park, SeaWorld. Verge Campus reported, SeaWorld made an announcement on March 17 that officially confirms that they will no longer breed orcas. They also confirmed that the current generation would effectively be its last.
The Sea Shepherd group claim on their legal complaint, that the Antibes Marineland mistreats the animals in their captivity as well pollutes the local environment. The first court trial is scheduled in September.
The French marine park denied the allegation of mistreatment. A statement on Sunday was released, saying, "The conditions of well-being of the marine mammals are carefully and strictly controlled by several organisations, as well as European and international regulations."
