The death of Kalina, a 25-year-old female, followed
that of Taima, a 20-year-old female who died in June giving birth to a
stillborn calf at SeaWorld Orlando, and Sumar, a 12-year-old male who
died last month at SeaWorld San Diego.
determine an exact cause of Kalina’s death, a process that will take as
long as six weeks. The company said Tuesday that Taima’s death was due
to “complications from the birthing process” and that it has not yet
completed its analysis of Sumar’s necropsy.
But it said it is “certain” that the three deaths are not related.
“We take very seriously the death of any of our animals and the loss affects us deeply,”
The trio of deaths come amid what may be the most challenging period in
Brancheau’s death prompted a harsh condemnation and
is contesting the citation. The tragedy also fueled criticism from
animal-rights activists, who argued that the attack was the product of
stress endured by killer whales in captivity — a claim
The recent orca deaths have provided more ammunition
for those critics. Killer whales in the wild typically live much longer
than Kalina, Taima or Sumar; females have a life expectancy of about 50
years and can reach 80 or 90 years of age, according to the National
Marine Fisheries Service, while males live for about 30 years and can
reach 50 or 60 years.
According to Fisheries Service records and
marine parks since 1985. The animals ranged in age from less than 1
year to approximately 30 years old. The causes of death have included
multiple cases of pneumonia, encephalitis and gastrointestinal
ailments, according to the records.
The numbers do not include an approximately 23-year-old female orca who died in
care in 2001. The company said it took in the already-ill animal from
another facility to attempt medical treatment, but it died less than
six months after it arrived.
Anti-captivity activists have long contended that
the shorter life spans recorded in captive killer-whale populations are
evidence that confinement causes stress on the animals.
said the deaths this year of Kalina, Taima and Sumar — all of whom were
born in captivity — suggest that captive-born whales fare no better
than those that have been captured from the wild.
“There’s something about the whole confinement and
space and lack of family … that the stress is just pervasive,” Rose
said. “It may be at a low level, but it’s persistent, and low-level
stress can be very dangerous over the long term. And they’re not living
very long.”
suggest that its killer whales are under stress. The company noted that
it has also recorded 26 successful births during the past 25 years —
beginning with Kalina’s
Seventeen of the 26 killer whales born in
“The animals in our parks are content and healthy, a
fact supported by medical, scientific and behavioral evidence,” Bides
said. “Conversely, there is absolutely no evidence to support the
contention that animals in our care suffer stress.”
The oldest killer whale in its care is Corky, an approximately 43-year-old female at SeaWorld San Diego.
trainers and killer whales while it conducts a sweeping safety review
prompted by Brancheau’s death. Trainers have been forbidden from
swimming with any orcas and can work with Tilikum —
The company has said it won’t allow trainers back
into the water unless it can make sufficient safety improvements to its
trainer protocols and equipment. It said there is nothing to indicate
that the limited contact with the animals since Brancheau’s death could
have affected the health of the killer whales that died.
“We have no reason to believe that the killer whale
deaths this year are related, or that there is any indication that
their zoological environment was a contributing factor,” Bides said.
The string of tragedies at
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