News of 2021

DO NOT USE. Highlight: Loro Parque looses two whales, Skyla and Ula(middle and back). Photo by Cetacean Lifestyle.

This page has captive killer whale news from the year 2021.

Disclaimer: This page is archived, meaning updates are fixing broken links, names, small mistakes, etc. Information may or may not be accurate.

Dates are sorted from beginning/recent towards the end of the year.

January

6th - The well known Tilikum passed four years ago today.

7th - Happy 11th birthday, Sakari!

Ningyo La Mar d'Aprop on Instagram has presumably confirmed that Wow's name is actually Dillon. When Dillon's name was mentioned as Wow/Wao in a Chinese news article, much of the public presumed this was his name. The same goes for Dora, another orca at the park.

11th - Happy 23rd birthday, Lovey!

February

2nd - Happy 28th birthday, Keet!

8th - Happy 20th birthday, Lara!

9th - Happy 17th birthday, Skyla!

The "Orlando pod", or simply the five orcas that live at SeaWorld Orlando, have been reunited. Originally, the pod(including Kayla) was separated into same sex groups sometime in 2018. Despite Kayla dying in early 2019, the whales weren't reunited until July of that year. They continued to be together until COVID-19 hit Orlando and the facility had to close for a couple months. When SeaWorld reopened their first park, SeaWorld Orlando, the pod wasn't seen together. Sometime in early January of this year, everyone was seen together in the underwater viewing pool.

Despite having been together since then, concerning behavior has been seen throughout the confusing road. Malia, the youngest female, has apparently refused to swim with the others. She can be seen looking at the rocks and surfacing rather then being with others. Trua, the second oldest, has shown to be dominant despite being a male. He has raked and chased Makaio, the youngest, who has been trying to reach his mother, Katina. Katina has tried several times to communicate with Makaio which includes communicating between gates and trying to fully go on the slide over despite being yet another gate placed there. Nalani, the whale in the middle, has shown much interest to Trua. The two have gotten along much better than expected and Trua has presumably shown much mating interest in her.

Here is a video to some such behavior: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvZNY9ovTQs (Credits to Trua712)

14th - Happy 8th birthday, Makani!

23rd - Happy 22nd birthday, Inouk!

25th - Happy 28th birthday to Shouka and happy 15th birthday to Ran II!

March

12th - Happy 14th birthday, Malia!

Unfortunately, not all is well. An official blog from Loro Parque states that Skyla, their 17 year old female, passed away early yesterday.

https://blog.loroparque.com/comunicado-de-loro-parque-2/

"Skyla, the youngest killer whale that came to Loro Parque from SeaWorld in 2006, passed away last morning.

Sadly, we have no words to express what this loss means to all of us. Skyla was part of the Loro Parque family and we will always remember her majesty and her kind character with the greatest love and affection.

We want to share with you that Skyla was in perfect condition until yesterday, when she began to show signs of some discomfort, which immediately mobilized our team of experts. Despite all the effort, veterinarians were only able to certify his death.

Everything has been arranged to carry out a post-mortem study by experts in cetacean pathology, which can clarify the causes of their death.

Skyla was, without a doubt, one of the most important ambassadors for her species in the world. For the Loro Parque family, especially the team of coaches who worked with her every day, it has been a great loss." (via English Google Translation)

16th - Moana turned 10 today!

Skyla's cause of death has been revealed. According to Loro Parque, she died of Intestinal Torsion. This caused Acute Septicemia, or blood poisoning, which resulted in her death. Unfortunately, it's not known what causes Intestinal Torsion, meaning it happened without warning.

The link can be found here.

23rd - According Ningyo La Mar d'Aprop on Instagram, both females at Shanghai have stopped performing in shows and doing slideout like behaviors. Dora and newly named Cookie, the youngest female, have been living at the park since late 2018. The older female, Dora, was thought to be pregnant in May of 2020. Now, there's a chance their both pregnant, as slideout behaviors are often avoided to prevent the calf from being stillborn. We can refer to this as Amaya's birth, as her mother, Kalia, was noticed to be less active around 3 months before her birth. Transfers would have also been postponed, as what presumably happened to Kayla's miscarriage. The same thing could be happening at Shanghai. Reference to the females can be seen here.

The younger female, previously known as Kysails/Annei, was "confirmed" to be named Cookie on the 14th of March(via Ningyo La Mar d'Aprop on Instagram).

April

25th - Yesterday, Loro Parque announced Ula, the worlds youngest captive born killer whale, is suffering from a intestinal problem. Her health "has deteriorated and continues to decline." Ula has also moved to the park's med pool, however she has been separated from her mother which could also be effecting her health. She is under 24 hour care by staff and "veterinary team" and at such a young age, her chances of survival are small. For now, all we can do is hope.

"Dear friends of Loro Parque,

With only a few days left before we reopen our doors after such a difficult year, we want to share with you our concern for Ula, the youngest member of the Orca Ocean family.

During the last days, her mood has deteriorated and continues to decline. She is showing signs of an intestinal problem, although none of the tests that our veterinarians have realized since the first moment have given any concrete indications, and her blood test has not demonstrated any apparent signs of an infectious process. Nonetheless, and in a preventive way, she has been transferred to the medical pool where she is receiving treatment that ensures her comfort while being attended by her care givers and the veterinary team during 24 hours.

In this situation, Loro Parque has contacted the best international specialists in cetaceans, who have not hesitated to come to her aid and are currently carrying out specific diagnoses in order to identify the cause of this intestinal pathology. We confide in their expertise and are sure that soon we will have more clarity about what is going on with our little Ula so that we can help her to recover as soon as possible.

The rest of the orca family is doing well and we hope that Ula recovers soon and can reunited with the group." (English Version)

The park opens up on the 1st of May, around 6 days from now. This could help us study the pod's behavior after Skyla's death(and Ula's health).

Article: https://blog.loroparque.com/loro-parques-statement-4/?lang=en

In other news, Cookie and Dora, the females at Shanghai, has been seen in shows again according to Ningyo La Mar d'Aprop on Instagram.

May

3rd - According to a Chinese article, "在虎鲸科普秀中，胖虎、饼干、肖恩、朵拉四只黑白色系的海洋霸主凌空腾跃，" (In the Orca Science Show, the four black and white marine overlords of Fat Tiger, Biscuit, Sean, and Dora leaped in the sky,).

Basically, Dylan's stage name is "Fat Tiger" (胖虎), Dora's name has been confirmed(朵拉), Goren's name is actually Sean(pronounced Shawn, 肖恩), and Cookie's name has been confirmed(English translation appears as Biscuit, 饼干). Along with that, Cookie is now often seen in shows and Sean is backstage more.

Ula's health has improved! Loro Parque released a Blog Post yesterday stating that her condition has improved and is still under 24 hour watch. Photos show that she may have lost a lot of weight, however her mood is more active and interactive to the trainers and EEDs(toys). The next update will be posted in a weeks time(6 days from now).

Nalani and Malia have been getting into many fights recently. Videos show trainers having to separate them often and even focus Nalani on a target pole so Malia get be sent to another pool. Despite all of the aggressive incidents, they could be working out social structures, in which Malia is at the bottom.

5th - Happy 19th Birthday, Kohana!

8th - Ula's behavior is getting better! Another update sent out from Loro Parque says that Ula has been put on a diet which contributed to her weight loss, according to the park.

"In addition to the medical treatment that she has been receiving in the past weeks, the veterinary team has established a strict diet to ensure the recovery of her digestive system. This, as expected, has produced some weight loss, although special care has been exerted to maintain her proper hydration. In the coming weeks, the nutrition will be introduced gradually to verify that her digestive system can tolerate and process it properly."

23rd - Park guests have noticed Stella and Lynn are in the indoor medical pool and have been there for a few days. One trainer said Lynn is sick, however they did not give details as the guest did not ask for them. As of now, PNPA has not released any statement regarding the illness. It is not known why Stella is in the pool if Lynn is the one who is sick, possibly for support/incase she has the illness as well.

In other news, Loro Parque has not released at fourth statement on Ula's health, leading visitors to believe she is improving. Videos show she has a "peanut head", a common sighting upon sick wild whales.

24th - As the notice about Lynn's health spreads to regular PNPA guests, many have caught her visually active. Stella is also there and seems to be acting normal. Nothing is known yet(no posts by the park), and Earth, the male at the park, still performs regularly.

25th - Pictures show Lynn and Stella in the backstage pools!! We hope that everything went well, as PNPA never made an official announcement.

28th - Lynn is suffering an injury/skin disease on her rostrum.

Photo via Instagram.

30th - Lynn's condition is becoming worse and more visible.

June

1st - Happy 20th birthday, Wikie!

14th - Good news coming from Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium, Lynn's illness seems to be disappearing! We are glad that she seems to be more in activity sessions however the park has yet to make any statements regarding the issue.

In other news, Cookie, Shanghai's younger female, could be pregnant. She seems to be much larger and judging by other photos of previous pregnant whales such as Kasatka, she could be due soon, possibly in around a month. Like usual, we can't confirm nor deny this that this is true.

Photos via Ningyo La Mar d'Aprop on Instagram.

15th - More news yet again, this time coming from SeaWorld San Diego's Shouka. She seems to be suffering a skin condition yet again, as previously seen in December of 2019. It's believed this was from putting Shouka on birth control however nothing is actually confirmed.

17th - Keto turns 26 today!!

22nd - Happy 22nd birthday, Tuar!!

23rd - Morgan "celebrates" 11 years in captivity.

July

9th - Takara is now 30!!

On the other hand, Cookie is still out of shows and has gotten wider, more signs leading people to believe she is indeed pregnant.

Photo via Ningyo La Mar d'Aprop on Instagram.

10th - Breaking News - Killer Whale Calf Strands in New Zealand

"Yesterday, a killer whale calf was separated from its pod and found stranded at Plimmerton beach north of Wellington, New Zealand. The Department of Conservation, Whale-Rescue.org and Project Jonah were all present to assist the stranded baby killer whale.

Ian Angus, the manager for the Department of Conservation marine species, has said the following on the situation; 'Yesterday evening, we alongside the rescue team had attempted to the baby orca’s pod to return it safely to it’s family. Unfortunately, we have not been successful in locating the pod. Overnight, to keep the calf safe, the rescue team loaded the calf onto a trailer where it will be kept onshore, actively monitored by Whale-Rescue.org and kept moist and cool overnight.' Today, the search for the killer whale’s family pod will resume. Until the pod has been located, the calf will continue to be cared for by the department and rescue teams.

The department has requested that if anyone in the Wellington area spots killer whales to please call 0800 SEE ORCA immediately."

11th - The race continues to find the Toa's family. He is held in trailer overnight.

12th - Attempts are continued to be made to find the family and release Toa. He was held in a temporary pen overnight and has believed to been in there since. Locals have taken spots during the night to monitor the calf in freezing temperatures.

15th - Toa has been moved to a temporary pool next to the pen due to inclement weather.

19th - Happy 9th birthday, Luna II!!

Toa will like remain in the temporary pool because the pen has been deemed "unsafe" according to officials.

20th - Toa had colic last night, and because of this his milk formula was changed.

23rd - Yesterday, Toa moved back in the sea pen. He seemed to enjoy it and was very active.

I regret to inform you that he passed away very early this morning. Vets were unable to arrive at the scene in time to save him. A necropsy will not be performed as from the local Māori. Instead, he will be buried, very similar to Bob.

August

Lynn(left) and Earth. Photo by the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium(PNPA).

3rd - Lynn, has been reintroduced to Earth after being separated for a few months due to Lynn's sudden illness. Stella was also part of the introduction.

It is unknown what was the caused of Lynn's discoloration. Many people referred to it similar to what Kasatka had, has the visual effects seemed to be the same. The staff at the aquarium, PNPA(Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium), never released a statement, simply stating she was "sick" to guests who asked. Nonetheless, Lynn's personality hasn't changed, as she is still very active in many behaviors and training sessions. Earth's dorsal has also collapsed much as well.

After the affair, Earth was separated from them again and possibly still is.

Photo by Loro Parque.

10th - We are sad to announce Ula has passed away at Loro Parque.

"It is with immense pain and sadness that we write these words today. We do it to share with all our friends that we have lost our beloved Ula, Morgan's daughter, who was born with us in Orca Ocean.

A few months ago we shared with you our concern for his health after he fell ill and was in a very critical situation, but thanks to a great team of professionals and his tireless effort and dedication, we managed to stabilize him and move forward.

However, a few days ago we noticed her down again and without spirit. We responded immediately, putting in place all the medical procedures to analyze his state of health and carrying out tests to find out the reason for his discouragement. Unfortunately, a few hours ago, Ula left us.

Now we have arranged everything necessary to carry out a necropsy, counting on experts in cetacean pathology, which will allow us to know the causes of their death.

Beyond this, right now it is impossible for us to explain what the loss of little Ula means for the Loro Parque family, and especially for the Orca Ocean team, who went out of their way for her every day." (can be found here)

11th - Narnia "celebrates" 9 years in captivity at Moskvarium.

13th - Nord "celebrates" 8 years in captivity at Moskvarium. Orpheus/Tyson and Grace also "celebrate" this at Chimelong Ocean Kingdom(if their alive, we haven't had an update since 2017 on how the whales are doing)

19th - Sad news from SeaWorld San Diego. Their 6 year old orca, named Amaya, passed away earlier today after showing illnesses yesterday. The necropsy results are pending.

25th - Ikaika turns 25 today!!

27th - MarineLand Ontario may be in a financial crisis according to Phil Demers on Twitter. The asking price is an estimated 300,000,000, a lot less than expected. This is reasonable as they are currently asking for staff members on their Instagram.

On the other hand, PETA is continuing to claim Amaya got aggressive against Corky II, then Corky "retaliated overnight" and killed her...? w This doesn't exactly make to much sense. Personally, I don't get it as Amaya would have been surrounded by team members if she was battling an illness. You are welcome to express your thoughts on the matter at our blog(non-mobile users only).

31st - Sometime during the month, Litla and Meng Meng would have "celebrated" 6 years in captivity at Hengqin Island. COK-OO-C1402, COK-OO-C1403, and COK-OO-C1404 would have also "celebrated" 7 years in captivity at Hengqin Island.

September

1st - Nakai turns 20 today!!

18th - AHH!! Nalani is 15 today!!

23rd - Orkid is 33 today!

October

6th - Amazing news from Ocean Wise Research!!

"Credit: Ocean Wise Research, DFO Marine Mammal License, MML18"

"Springer’s expecting!

In early 2002, after the death of her mother, a young northern resident killer whale named Springer (A73) showed up alone and in poor health in Washington State’s Puget Sound. An unprecedented rescue effort brought together scientists, government officials and concerned citizens to rescue and rehabilitate Springer, and she was successfully released back into the wild to reunite with her northern resident relatives a month later. Her rehabilitation is the ultimate success story; almost 20 years later Springer continues to travel with her Northern Resident pod and has since had two offspring of her own, Spirit (A104) born in 2013 and Storm (A116) born in 2017. And she’s now pregnant with her third calf! Click the link in bio to read more about our photogrammetry teams encounters with Springer and her family over the past two years, and to find out who else in the northern resident population of killer whales is confirmed pregnant!"

The post can be found here!

9th - Insane news coming from Shanghai Haichang Ocean Park. Cookie, the park's youngest female, gave birth to a calf on the 9th of September, earlier this year. This was only released today by the China Cetacean Alliance, making people unsure of what's actually happening.

Unfortunately, the mother didn't know what to do and the calf swam on its own, eventually hitting a wall and breaking its jaw and/or rostrum. Cookie followed her calf trying to stay with it but ultimately failed. They were eventually separated for the good of being hand-raised by trainers. The shows started back on on the 1st of this month. Shanghai hasn't made an announcement yet and the parks social media and trainer accounts have gone down in activity. Dylan is most likely the father as Sean has barely reached sexual maturity yet. We can only hope that the calf is alive, as nobody from the park made an announcement on anything. The calf is probably fighting an infection it got from their jaw/rostra injury.

In other news, Makaio turns 11 today!

13th - It is now the 13th in Japan, meaning that Earth is turning 13th!

Adán also turns 11!

18th - Although unofficial, it's believed that Amaya's cause of death is a Gastrointestinal disease. Documents state this however at this point it can't be confirmed. Kayla's death only got a "lung infection/disease" so there's a half chance this isn't the possibility. I(Katerina Studios) made a folder of all the PDFs released related to Amaya's death. You can find the folder here, along with the more informational documents(giving the most information, the others are notices and emails) here and here.

Ula's cause of death is still unknown/unconfirmed, and the only thing that would make sense is an intentional issue/twisted intestines(which is what she was presumably dealing with earlier in the year).

November

4th - ZEMBLA has confirmed Ula's cause of death via a clip from one of their documentary. The clip was originally posted on twitter saying she had Intestinal Torsion. This is the same caused of death for Skyla, however. Loro Parque stated nothing on the matter themselves, despite having representatives' from their park in the short clip.

8th - Tekoa is officially 21!!

13th - Lynn turns 9 today!

20th - Keijo is now 8 today!

December

6th - Kamea turns 8 today!

In other news, the whale jail sea pens at TINRO are being demolished! This is great news as orca captures(of the Russian Transients) have a less chance of continuing in the future. They are already on a 6 month hold, and may not ever happen again.

18th - Disturbing news from the Miami Seaquarium. Catalina, one of the park's Pacific White-Sided dolphins(Lags), has died from wounds/injuries suspected to have been inflicted by the parks lone killer whale, Tokitae.

Catalina was SeaWorld's first successful captive born Lag. She was sent to Miami from SeaWorld San Antonio on a loan in 2018 where she would meet Tokitae and presumably other dolphins. Tokitae, commonly known as her stage name Lolita, has been living in the same tank since 1970. While all seemed to be going well with the two(and this years other Lag named Lii), Miami cut Tokitae and other animal's diets in half sometime earlier this year. It's believed that this drove Tokitae into a series of attacks on the dolphin. SeaWorld moved Catalina on the 3rd of this month(15 days ago) to their Orlando facility, where she died sometime during or between the 5th and 9th.

"Seaquarium staff suspect the death was caused by trauma, possibly by Lolita ramming the dolphin in an episode of aggressive behavior that had been witnessed before, according to people familiar with the case."

"The USDA inspection report documented instances of aggression between Lolita, Catalina and another white-sided dolphin called Lii. 'Chasing, white water and aggression between Lii and Catalina, two Pacific white sided dolphins, and Toki had been observed and was of concern,' the report said."

Read the article here: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/environment/article256448916.html

21st - Kalia turns 17 today!!

24th - Kyuquot is now 30!!

31st - The ages of the captured and rescued orcas have gone up by one year. This includes:

1. Corky II turns 56 at SeaWorld San Diego. Her 57th birthday would later be celebrated on the 2nd of January, 2022.
2. Tokitae turns 56 at the Miami Seaquarium.
3. Katina turns 45 at SeaWorld Orlando.
4. Kiska turns 45 at MarineLand Ontario.
5. Stella turns 35 at Port of Nagoya.
6. Kshamenk turns 33 at Mundo Marino.
7. Tyson turns 16 at Hengqin Island.
8. Narnia turns 15 at Moskvarium.
9. Litla turns 15 at Hengqin Island.
10. Morgan turns 13 or 14 at Loro Parque.
11. Nord turns 12 at Moskvarium.
12. Dora turns 10 or 11 at Shanghai.
13. Nukka turns 10 at Hengqin Island.
14. Naja turns 10 at Moskvarium.
15. COK-OO-C1304 would be in the age range of 10-15 at Hengqin Island.
16. COK-OO-C1305 would be in the age range of 10-15 at Hengqin Island.
17. COK-OO-C1402 would be in the age range of 10-15 at presumably Hengqin Island.
18. COK-OO-C1403 would be in the age range of 10-15 at presumably Hengqin Island.
19. COK-OO-C1404 would be in the age range of 10-15 at presumably Hengqin Island.
20. UKN-OO-C1306 would be in the age range of 19-18 at an unknown location(only if they were sent to a facility).
21. Sean turns 9 at Shanghai.
22. Cookie turns 9 at Shanghai.
23. COK-OO-C1502 turns 9 at Hengqin Island.
24. Malvina, if alive, would turn 9(only if she was sent to a facility).
25. WCOK-OO-C1601 would be 8 or older at Wuxi Changqiao Ocean Kingdom.
26. WCOK-OO-C1602 would be 8 or older at Wuxi Changqiao Ocean Kingdom.
27. UNK-OO-C1501 would be 6 or older at an unknown location(if exitance is confirmed and if they were sent to a facility).