SeaWorld San Diego SeaWorld San Diego News

Other 2022 News:

On January 7th, the park announced they rescued a (1.0) California sea lion after he was found on Highway 94.

SeaWorld Rescues Stranded Sea Lion on Highway | This curious little guy had quite the adventure today! Our SeaWorld Rescue team responded to several calls about a sea lion on highway 94. Although we’re... | By SeaWorld San Diego | Facebook

On January 26th, the park announced they acquired a (0.0.1) spot-fin porcupinefish in December 2021 after it was found cold-stunned.

Rescued Spot-fin Porcupinefish at SeaWorld San Diego | Our Rescue and Aquarium teams received this cold-stunned Spot-fin Porcupine fish last month. While it's uncommon to see this species in our cold waters... | By SeaWorld San Diego | Facebook

On March 31st, it was announced that the park acquired (1.1) northern sea otters named Douglas and Poppy from the Alaska SeaLife Center in Alaska.

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On April 6th, the park announced it has rescued a (0.0.1) harbor seal that was found near Scripps Pier. On June 3rd, the park announced the harbor seal has been released back into the wild.

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On May 7th, the park announced that they have rehabilitated and released (0.0.2) brown pelicans back into the wild.

Dual Brown Pelican Return | Two brown pelicans were returned near La Jolla Cove this week. The birds were treated for various injuries, including one with wounds from a fishing line... | By SeaWorld San Diego | Facebook

On May 23rd, the park announced that a (1.0) short-finned pilot whale named Ace passed away.

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https://seaworldentertainment.com/blog/full-statement-on-the-passing-of-rescue-ace/

On May 26th, it was announced that the park reacquired a (0.1) southern sea otter named Abby from the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California.

https://twitter.com/MontereyAq/status/1529878000325361674

On July 12th, the park announced that they have rehabilitated and released (0.0.5) Guadalupe fur seals back into the ocean. On September 1st, the park announced they released (0.0.3) more Guadalupe fur seals back into the ocean.

SeaWorld San Diego Rescue Team Returns 5 Guadalupe Fur Seals | It’s time to SEAL-abrate! Our Rescue team successfully returned 5 Guadalupe Fur Seals to San Diego shores after successful rehabilitation. We’re honored... | By SeaWorld San Diego | Facebook
Guadalupe Fur Seal Return - SeaWorld San Diego | Looking fur something to smile about? SeaWorld San Diego Rescue Team returned three Guadalupe Fur Seals to the Pacific Ocean after months of... | By SeaWorld San Diego | Facebook

On August 8th, it was reported that PETA is requesting an investigation over a supposed orca attack that happened on August 5th, which SeaWorld statethey are misrepresenting the situation.

https://www.10news.com/news/local-n...-seaworld-san-diego-after-alleged-orca-attack
 
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I visited Sea World this week and I was disappointed to see that there are no longer Northern Otters in the Wild Arctic exhibit. There were two harbor seals inhabiting the exhibit instead. One of the employees told me they were sent to Abu Dhabi for a new Sea World park being opened there.
 
I'm planning a San Diego trip (with a side-track to see mountain tapir at LA). I was wondering how long I should be planning on assigning to Seaworld San Diego, bearing in mind I have no interest in rides and wouldn't need to see the shows (unless it's impossible to see the animals without the show).
 
oflory said:
I'm planning a San Diego trip (with a side-track to see mountain tapir at LA). I was wondering how long I should be planning on assigning to Seaworld San Diego, bearing in mind I have no interest in rides and wouldn't need to see the shows (unless it's impossible to see the animals without the show).
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Probably not more than three to four hours for what you're describing depending on how crowded the park is and how fast you walk. Pilot whale might be the only notable species that may require a show, I don't think they're always on view but I may be wrong.
 
Great Argus said:
Probably not more than three to four hours for what you're describing depending on how crowded the park is and how fast you walk. Pilot whale might be the only notable species that may require a show, I don't think they're always on view but I may be wrong.
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Excellent, just what I wanted to know, thank you! I walk fast!
 
Great Argus said:
Probably not more than three to four hours for what you're describing depending on how crowded the park is and how fast you walk. Pilot whale might be the only notable species that may require a show, I don't think they're always on view but I may be wrong.
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There is also bullet the hybrid bottlenose/long beaked common dolphin but that’s in the same show. If you fail to see both in the show, though usually they mention both, you can see the back stage pools from the back of the seasame street area.
 
Pilot whales can be seen a pool directly the opposite side of the seating for the show. It's viewable by the public, if you walk around the entire stadium you can't miss it
 
On January 19th, 2023, the aquarium announced that they acquired a (1.0) Guadalupe fur seal from the Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute in California after it was found stranded on a road.

SeaWorld San Diego

On January 20th, the aquarium announced that between November 24th and December 27th, (0.0.5) chinstrap penguins, (0.0.2) macaroni penguins, (0.0.2) Adélie penguins, and a (0.0.1) king penguin hatched.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=865078684708046

On March 10th, the aquarium announced that they rehabilitated and released a (1.0) California sea lion and a (0.1) northern elephant seal into the wild.

Last week, the SeaWorld San Diego Rescue Team returned a sea lion pup and a Northern elephant seal after successful rehabilitation at SeaWorld San... | By SeaWorld San Diego | Facebook

On April 21st, the aquarium announced that a (1.0) California sea lion named Freeway (famous for appearing in various locations in San Diego, including 4 miles from the coast on State Route 94) passed away due to an unspecified progressive disease.

SeaWorld San Diego
 
A couple updates from my recent visit:

Now that the end of the breeding season has come to an end, the park has welcomed a couple Emperor Penguin chicks which hopefully are fertile and will hatch relatively soon.

In the Arctic Aviary, two baby tufted puffins were born along with a Common Murre.

As mentioned above there was a recent incident involving the killer whales. A park guest hopped over the above water viewing barrier in the Dine with Shamu pool and sat on the edge of the pool dangling his feet into the water. The whales did not react and he was kicked out and is now facing charges in court.

SeaWorld still wants to bring back polar bears to the San Diego park even though their breeding loan with Pittsburgh was unsuccessful so I am excited to see how that goes. Also I heard some rumors of a new bird zone in the future that would allow guests to see all of the rare birds SeaWorld has behind the scenes. Lastly but not least, once the park clears out a virus that is currently affecting all of the former Aquatica fish, a new aquarium might be in development.

Sometime soon there will be a big swap with the park's sea turtles. All of the males will move to Turtle Reef including Little Foot who resides at JTA, and the females will move to the Turtle Ponds in Shipwreck Rapids. Also SeaWorld is almost at capacity when it comes to dolphins so there are no current efforts to breed the current population.
 
Jonathan Petersson said:
As mentioned above there was a recent incident involving the killer whales. A park guest hopped over the above water viewing barrier in the Dine with Shamu pool and sat on the edge of the pool dangling his feet into the water. The whales did not react and he was kicked out and is now facing charges in court.
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Thank god nothing happened here with the whales. A completely idiotic move and I hope the right punishment is handed out to them.

On that note, massive kudos to the SeaWorld training staff who have worked incredibly hard over the last decade or so to desensitise the whales to anything that falls in the pool.

Probably also lucky the right whales are in that pool at that time; Orkid’s one who would’ve surely reacted.
 
Jambo said:
On that note, massive kudos to the SeaWorld training staff who have worked incredibly hard over the last decade or so to desensitise the whales to anything that falls in the pool.
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The whales have been trained on desense for multiple DECADES. It's hardly a new development, especially as recently as 10 years ago. In 2013 virtually all of their whales were already very well trained on it besides Makani, who was a new born calf, and Ike, who had only recently arrived from Canada. I'm not sure how good Shoukas was, but I know she was trained on it to some degree during her time at Six Flags as well.
 
Hyak_II said:
The whales have been trained on desense for multiple DECADES. It's hardly a new development, especially as recently as 10 years ago. In 2013 virtually all of their whales were already very well trained on it besides Makani, who was a new born calf, and Ike, who had only recently arrived from Canada. I'm not sure how good Shoukas was, but I know she was trained on it to some degree during her time at Six Flags as well.
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Yes, but my point was that it’s been intensified even more following the tragedy at Orlando. And this was only with waterwork whales too so would’ve therefore excluded Orkid, Ulises ect.

I can recall Ike participating in water desensitisation training soon after his arrival; despite the fact he didn’t do waterworks at Marineland he apparently reacted very well to this. The same was done with Shouka too; who also showed positive signs with this training despite her history back in France.
 
Jambo said:
Yes, but my point was that it’s been intensified even more following the tragedy at Orlando. And this was only with waterwork whales too so would’ve therefore excluded Orkid, Ulises ect.
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Their in water desensitization program has been very strong, long before the 2010 incident. They also train their dolphins and pilot whales for it as well.

And incorrect. ALL of the whales, including Tilikum, Orkid, Kasatka, Kyuquot, and Taima (the main 5 "risky" animals) were/are trained to go into desense should someone fall into the pool, especially since most of them were active and well trained waterwork animals at various points in their lives. They're arguably the animals this training was most important for, considering their history. Moreover, the fatal attack by Tilikum and several other aggressive instances from other animals didn't even involve a person in the water or an ignored "desense" situation (a whale can only go into desense if something/one enters the pool). He and others deliberatly pulled in/aggressed on the trainer(s) from the side of the pool.

Regardless, its good nothing unfortunate came of the person who attempted this. Even the best trained animal can respond unpredictably at times.
 
Hyak_II said:
Their in water desensitization program has been very strong, long before the 2010 incident. They also train their dolphins and pilot whales for it as well.

And incorrect. ALL of the whales, including Tilikum, Orkid, Kasatka, Kyuquot, and Taima (the main 5 "risky" animals) were/are trained to go into desense should someone fall into the pool, especially since most of them were active and well trained waterwork animals at various points in their lives. They're arguably the animals this training was most important for, considering their history. Moreover, the fatal attack by Tilikum and several other aggressive instances from other animals didn't even involve a person in the water or an ignored "desense" situation (a whale can only go into desense if something/one enters the pool). He and others deliberatly pulled in/aggressed on the trainer(s) from the side of the pool.

Regardless, its good nothing unfortunate came of the person who attempted this. Even the best trained animal can respond unpredictably at times.
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From what I've read (from former SW trainers) it was ultimately decided that non waterwork whales would not be involved in human desensitisation. Using Tilikum as an example; the conscience being; there wasn't a big enough pool to pull this off and these guys are very quick animals. It was deemed to risky to trial this. In the cases of the others though, they were certainly trained prior to them stopping waterwork and potentially afterwards too.

I recall accounts from previous trainers regarding this training. Most whales become completely desensitised. One trainer fell into the pool once with Gudrun, but got no reaction; this was compared to them accidentally slipping into the pool with Tilikum once. Luckily they managed to climb out before he could come scurrying over.

I agree this is probably the best outcome. Since this happened in the SUV pool; it's more than likely this was probably a grouping of Corky and some of the boys.
 
Jonathan Petersson said:
SeaWorld still wants to bring back polar bears to the San Diego park even though their breeding loan with Pittsburgh was unsuccessful so I am excited to see how that goes. Also I heard some rumors of a new bird zone in the future that would allow guests to see all of the rare birds SeaWorld has behind the scenes. Lastly but not least, once the park clears out a virus that is currently affecting all of the former Aquatica fish, a new aquarium might be in development.
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This is interesting - where has it been mentioned previously? This would surely require the building of a new exhibit.
 
Cat-Man said:
This is interesting - where has it been mentioned previously? This would surely require the building of a new exhibit.
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I am unsure if this has been mentioned previously or how they would house new polar bears but SeaWorld is definitely interested in them.
Osedax said:
Which birds are these?
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As for the birds I don't think I can share for confidentiality reasons but you can probably find it online somewhere.
 
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