Kiska the orca , the last of her species to be held in captivity in Canada , has died at the approximate age of 47 . For the last four decades , Kiska had been living at Ontario theme green Marineland , after having been captured in Icelandic waters back in 1979 .
She was magnificently conquer alongside another orca , Keiko , who also lived at Marineland for a few year and is well have intercourse for portraying the title case in the 1993 movieFree Willy . Keikopassed awayalmost 20 years ago .
The practice ofkeeping orcas in captivityhas attracted a huge amount of controversy , which arguably reached its apotheosis with the 2013 acquittance of the documentaryBlackfish , focusing on the fate ofTilikum . Tilikum had been one of several killer keep at SeaWorld Orlando , having been sell to the parkland in 1991 , around eight eld after his original gaining control . In part thanks to the argument generated by the documentary , SeaWorld later phased out theirlive orca appearance .
In Canada , a law was draw in 2019 making it an offense to hold or breed whale , dolphins , and porpoise in captivity . However , there was an exemption for marine mammalian already being hold in captivity , as was the case for Kiska .
According toReuters , a local sanction voice confirmed that a necropsy had been performed on Kiska ’s body but made no gossip about the specific cause of destruction , although animal right mathematical group the Whale Sanctuary Projectreportedthat Kiska died of a bacterial infection . It has been reported antecedently that absorbed sea wolf are at risk of death fromopportunistic infections .
The Whale Sanctuary Project previously dubbed Kiska “ the lone whale in the world ” . Her life story was marred by tragedy : during her metre at Marineland , she give birth to five calves , all of whom died at a young age . Since 2011 , she had been without a tank - mate at all , a fact that was thrown into stark relief only this twelvemonth whendrone footageof her swimming alone was released .
Orcas are known to be extremelysocial animal , and brute right activists had been calling for year for Kiska and other engrossed heavyweight to be unloosen into a suitable retirement installation , to admit them to go more freely .
Other case , such as that ofTokitae , an elderly hulk who until recently performed in shows at the Miami Seaquarium , have shed ignitor on the complexness of returning displaced marine mammals to their aboriginal amniotic fluid . fear of the bed covering of diseases into wild universe , and the likely tension of being send into a new environs , must be balanced against the ethical and moral condition .
For Kiska , no agreement about her potential retreat to a sanctuary was ever accomplish , a fact that is lamented by animal right campaigner . As Camille Labchuck , executive theatre director of Animal Justice , toldCBC , “ it is heartbreaking to lie with that Kiska will never have the chance to be relocate to a whale sanctuary , and experience the exemption that she so deeply deserved . ”
