SeaWorld Orlando recently announced the death of Katina, a captive killer whale who spent most of her nearly 50 years in marine parks. The company stated that her health had “begun to significantly decline as she entered her geriatric years.”
Katina was captured from Icelandic waters in 1978 and sold to Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, where she spent only a short time. In 1979, she was purchased by SeaWorld and, over the decades, was repeatedly transferred between facilities, moved from pillar to post within the SeaWorld network. These included SeaWorld Cleveland, later known as SeaWorld Ohio. Throughout her life in captivity, Katina gave birth to seven calves. Many were separated from her and sent to other parks; some later died. Her last calf, a male named Makaio, was born in 2010 and remains at SeaWorld Orlando. His father was Tilikum.
In announcing her death, SeaWorld wrote that the “SeaWorld family” is mourning the loss of one of their beloved killer whales. But they were never her real family. That bond was broken the moment Katina was taken from her mother and pod – who, without question, would have mourned her loss that day. Killer whales are highly social animals that live in stable, lifelong family groups. Instead, Katina was forced to live in artificial and often incompatible social groupings.
Since 1961, more than 150 killer whales have been taken from the wild for captivity. Female orcas typically live around 50 years, and many live much longer in the wild. What we will never know is the full life Katina could have lived – one defined by freedom, family, and the ocean she was taken from.
