Marine zoo stops killer whale from mating with his mother

And you thought your job was bad.

Trainers at a marine zoo in southern France say they have to manually sexually stimulate a male killer whale once a month to prevent him from inbreeding with his mother.

The mother-and-son orcas are being cared for at Marineland Antibes while a new home is found for the pair. The site closed to visitors in January as it prepares to comply with a new French law banning whales from appearing in marine zoo performances.

The French government and animal-rights groups have yet to agree where Wikie, 24 and Keijo, 11 should be moved, leaving the aquatic mammals in limbo, the BBC said.

After aerial video captured Aug. 12 by marine activist group TideBreakers surfaced showing a trainer grasping Keijo’s flipper while another stimulated him as he wriggles around in the water, Marineland said it was a necessary step to relieve Keijo’s “tensions” as he reaches sexual maturity.

“In order to avoid inbreeding with his mother, but also to prevent them from fighting and injuring each other, Marineland decided to sexually stimulate Keijo [to relieve him of his] tensions,” the zoo told the outlet.

“This is natural and totally painless for the animals,” it said.

France’s ecology ministry — which is tasked with giving a green light to where the killer whales wind up — said Marineland told it that it performs the procedure once a month under consultation with a veterinary expert.

But Valerie Greene, a member of the marine-animal activist group TideBreakers and former longtime SeaWorld Orlando employee, told the outlet that sexually stimulating Keijo in such a manner is highly unusual and raises questions about Marineland’s intentions.

“As a former killer whale trainer, I’ve never seen this behavior performed for anything other than attempting semen collection for use in artificial insemination,” Greene said.

Breeding laws have tightened over the past decade including in the US and France, but Japan — whose only male orca, Earth, died earlier this month — has looser restrictions.

This has led to speculation that Japan may be looking to purchase Keijo’s semen for artificial insemination, which Marineland managers denied, noting the sale of semen is prohibited.

“Keijo is inbred, so it’s even more concerning that his semen might be used for breeding of captive orcas,” Greene said, noting that Keijo’s parents are half-siblings.

“Regardless of the reasoning, it’s sad that this is a priority when Keijo desperately needs to be rescued because his environment is unsafe,” she said.

“The notion that trainers are providing sexual relief to an orca … is a perverse new low in the captivity industry’s morally bankrupt practices.”

So far, attempts to move the orcas to Japan, Canada or Spain have all fallen through or been rejected, leaving the animals — along with a dozen dolphins living at the zoo — treading water as they wait for more permanent lodgings, the outlet said.

In July, “Star Trek” actor William Shatner delivered an impassioned plea to French President Emmanuel Macron on behalf of nonprofit Earthday.org, urging the leader to move the whales to a safer location.

The country’s ecology ministry told the outlet that a task force is being formed to develop a “coordinated strategy” on how to deal with the stranded animals at Marineland.

TideBreakers co-founder Marketa Schusterova said the group has pushed for a temporary tank to be built until a sanctuary opens its doors, warning, “time is running out.”