Marineland was hit by a firestorm of controversy in March after two of its orcas died within five months of each other.
The park, near Antibes on the French Riviera, has some 4,000 animals from 150 different species. But visitor numbers have dropped from 1.2 million a year in its heyday when it was a flagship attraction of the Cote d’Azur, to just 425,000 over the last decade.
It employed 103 permanent staff and some 500 seasonal workers.
“I understand that it’s closing with the drop in attendance, but I’m disappointed because we could have evolved differently,” said Jeremy Lo Vasco, 34, a keeper for ten years.
“For the moment, we’re not thinking about our own fate because our priority is that the animals are well, but the hammer blow will come later,” he added.
He evoked a “snowball effect” from numerous factors including the floods of 2015 which submerged the site, the 2013 documentary film “Blackfish” denouncing the captivity of cetaceans and the Covid pandemic.
‘Relocate all animals’
These led the park’s owner, the Spanish group Parques Reunidos, to announce its definitive closure with only recreational activities to be kept during the summer season.
The park has said 90 percent of its visitors come for its orca and dolphin performances.
The closure of Marineland puts an end to a story that began when Count Roland Paulze d’Ivoy de La Poype — a hero of World War II — opened the park entirely dedicated to marine fauna based on what he had seen in the United States.
Marineland has until December 2026 to part with its two remaining killer whales Keijo and Wikie.