Overview
- Officials confirmed a 2.5‑hectare, €25 million facility at ZooParc de Beauval with seven pools and no performances or public contact, targeting a March–April 2027 opening.
- An agreement is in place for Planète Sauvage’s 11 dolphins to move to Beauval once the center is built.
- Marineland’s owner Parques Reunidos is pressing to send its 12 dolphins to Spain now rather than wait until 2027, and legal ownership limits the government’s leverage.
- A proposed route would place eight dolphins in Malaga and four in Valencia, with only the Malaga group later eligible for Beauval, a plan opposed by the government and several NGOs.
- Beauval cannot take Marineland’s two orcas, which remain an urgent unresolved case as the ministry seeks scarce transfer options after earlier refusals abroad.