Tragedy struck on the French Riviera when floods hit the city of Antibes along the Mediterranean Sea.
The city lies devastated with 12 people confirmed dead and four additional people missing. Additionally, Antibes is home to Europe’s largest marine park, Marineland.
When the flood hit, most of Marineland’s animal habitats were filled with muddy water from the Mediterranean Sea.
Brave teams of trainers, animal care staff and park employees took immediate action.
The flooding caused Marineland to lose power, which in turn caused the filtration and life support systems for their animals to go down.
Working around the clock, Marineland’s staff have been able to set up generators and account for all of their amazing animals.
Mainland’s staff posted an update on Facebook about the current status of the animals in their care.
Marine mammals are safe and sound, they are well and their caretakers are at their side.
The main damage are located to the levels of aquariums where we regret the loss of turtles and fish. Some domestic animals of kid’s island were also victims of the weather.
Au Marineland, les otaries vivent dans l’eau boueuse qui ne peut pas être filtrée. Les dauphins ont été épargnés. pic.twitter.com/mFRGnAVru0
— Frédéric Delepierre (@fred_delepierre) October 5, 2015
A tweet from a French reporter shows that while the sea lion’s habitat is currently in muddy water, the dolphin habitat was spared and those animals are completely safe.
While rescue workers are saving lives in Antibes and while Marineland’s employees work around the clock to care for the animals, activists are using this natural disaster to further their anti-zoo agenda.
Moments after the floods were broadcast on the news, activists ignored the loss of human life, the loss of domestic animals and the tragedy that this town is experiencing. Instead, they created a petition and are using the tragedy for a photo-op stunt.
This kind of behavior is repugnant and displays the callous lack of empathy animal rights groups like PETA, HSUS and Sea Shepherd have displayed time and time again.
The town of Antibes is coming together and working hard to restore power to all residents of Antibes, both human and animal.
Our thoughts are with the people of Antibes as they work to restore their town and our thoughts are with the hardworking men and women at Marineland as they work tirelessly to care for all the animals at their park.
We will update here on Awesome Ocean as this story develops.