‘Disturbing’ footage of a male orca being ‘stimulated’ by trainers to prevent inbreeding in France has sparked outrage.
Marineland Antibes in southern France closed down in January, but park managers, the French government, and animal rights activists have not yet agreed on where the killer whales should be rehomed.
This means that orcas Wikie, 24, and her 11-year-old son Keijo, are having to be kept in their pools while being looked after by their trainers at the marine park.
Last week, activist group TideBreakers obtained overhead footage, taken on August 12, showing two trainers kneeling by the edge of a pool next to the male animal as he lies upside down.
One trainer is seen holding onto one of the whale’s flippers while the other stimulates the whale as it moves around in the pool. This is in an attempt to stop Keijo inbreeding with his mother.
Wikie can be seen in the footage swimming in a pool opposite where her son is being held, but keeping them apart permanently is considered harmful to their wellbeing as orcas are known to be social creatures.
Managers at Marineland told BBC News that the action was necessary as Keijo has strong sexual urges due to his reaching adolescence.
‘In order to avoid inbreeding with his mother, but also to prevent them from fighting and injuring each other, Marineland decided to sexually stimulate Keijo [to relieve him of his] tensions,’ they said.
Last week, activist group TideBreakers obtained overhead footage, taken on August 12, showing two trainers kneeling by the edge of a pool next to the male animal as he lies upside down
One trainer is seen holding onto one of the whale’s flippers while the other stimulates the whale as it moves around in the pool. This is in an attempt to stop Keijo inbreeding with his mother
The now-closed Hotel Marineland in Antibes, France on February 15, 2025. The park, which closed permanently on January 5, was the subject of protests by activists against the transfer of orcas Wikie and Keijo
‘Although spectacular, this is natural and totally painless for the animals.’
But Marketa Schusterova, co-founder TideBreakers, disagrees, telling Le Parisien: ‘It’s not normal to see a human masturbating an orca to relieve himself. It’s shocking and very disturbing’.
Speaking on the video, Schusterova added: ‘When you film with a drone, the image is quite small on the screen. So at first we were quite shocked and perplexed by what was happening.
‘And then when we downloaded the video to the computer, we had confirmation that Keijo was being sexually stimulated… And that was very shocking and disturbing for the whole team’.
The animal rights activist explained that her team witnesses the same scene five times during the same day, for a duration of around twenty minutes each time.
Yet, Valerie Greene, a member of TideBreakers who worked at SeaWorld Orlando for a decade, told the BBC the stimulation of Keijo for sexual relief is unusual.
‘As a former killer whale trainer, I’ve never seen this behaviour performed for anything other than attempting semen collection for use in artificial insemination.’
She explained that since Keijo is inbred – his mother and father are half-siblings – it is highly concerning that his semen may be used for the breeding of captive orcas.
‘The notion that trainers are providing sexual relief to an orca… is a perverse new low in the captivity industry’s morally bankrupt practices,’ she added.
Valerie Greene, a member of TideBreakers who worked at SeaWorld Orlando for a decade, told the BBC the stimulation of Keijo (pictured) for sexual relief is unusual
Wikie and Keijo perform backflips in pools
Female orca Wikie swims with her calf born by artificial insemination on April 19, 2011 at Marineland animal exhibition park in the French Riviera city of Antibes, southeastern France
The co-founder of the NGO and her teams did not, however, film trainers collecting the animal’s sperm.
Marineland Park, however, told Le Parisien in a statement: ‘Marineland wishes to remind everyone that the sale of semen is prohibited and export is subject to authorisation from the French authorities’.
According to TideBreakers, far from ‘lowering tensions,’ sexually stimulating the orca would have the opposite effect on the animal.
Since the park’s closure in January, NGOs, including TideBreakers, have already raised several concerns about the animals’ living conditions.
The future of Keijo, his mother, and the park’s twelve dolphins, remains uncertain.
