Dolphinaria-Free Europe member One Voice has launched a campaign #ALifeForInouk, having commissioned a report from marine biologist Ingrid Visser and scientists John Jeff and Jeffrey Ventre.
Inouk is a 20 years old male orca, detained at Marineland Antibes, in the South of France. He is detained in pools that are less than 5 times his length and as is commonly seen in male captive orcas, he has a collapsed dorsal fin. Ingrid Visser notes that to see this in orcas who are in the wild is rare, and “associated with poor health and trauma”. Inouk also developed stereotypical behaviour such as swimming in circles however, what is of most concern is that he has also developed an oral stereotypy. This means he bites on everything he can from ‘toys’ placed in the tank to the tank walls themselves. This must cause the orca considerable discomfort as oral pain is the same for orcas as it is for humans. In the report the writers state that they have never seen an orca’s jaw in such bad shape, the orca now having lost all of his teeth.
“In summary Inouk suffered and likely continues to suffer from tooth loss tooth fracturing and from teeth with exposed pulp. Inouk likely suffers from acute and chronic stressors associated with unnatural confinement. In effect, he has a reduced quality of life due to captivity.”
Ingrid Visser, John Jett, Jeffrey Ventre
One Voice filed a complaint against Marineland for acts of cruelty towards Inouk and has also launched a petition to speak out for this orca.
Please help support the campaign for Inouk by signing this petition