Whale refuge group in Nova Scotia says France seeking talks about moving two whales

The group behind a plan to build a coastal refuge for captive whales in Nova Scotia says the government of France wants to talk to them about sending two killer whales to the proposed site.

The U.S.-based Whale Sanctuary Project issued a statement saying the request for talks comes a year after a marine theme park in the south of France was closed, stranding the orcas Wikie and her son Keijo.

In January of this year, the French government rejected the Whale Sanctuary Project’s initial bid to provide refuge for the whales, saying the sanctuary wouldn’t be ready in time.

In October, the Nova Scotia government granted the Whale Sanctuary Project a 20-year lease for 83 hectares of Crown lands and coastal waters near Wine Harbour, N.S.

Under French law, the country’s last two captive orcas must be removed from France by the end of this year, but the Whale Sanctuary Project is still in the early stages of building an oceanside pen on the province’s eastern shore.

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Earlier attempts to send the whales to Japan and Spain fell though.