Captive Orca Population

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Yazziel said:
Nakia has passed away at Sea World San Diego after battling an infection

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I am lost for words…this is truly devastating news. He was only 20, a month away from his 21st birthday.

He was an incredibly intelligent orca and personally one of my favourite orcas at San Diego. He had such a close bond with his younger siblings, Kalia and Makani and was especially an awesome older brother to Makani following Kasatka’s death. He was also quite close with Orkid; both would try to outdo each other during shows, they had quite a unique friendship.

All of Seaworld loved him. He had such a bright and bubbly personality and was always challenging the trainers (and the other orcas too *ahem orkid*).

I could go on and on about Nakai, he was truly a wonderful whale.

May he rest in piece, big guy.
 
Every SeaWorld orca death reminds me how close we are to a future without Orcas in human care in the US.

To prevent accidental pregnancies, every female whale at SeaWorld provides a urine sample every single day that the vet staff analyzes to ensure the birth control is working and there are no signs of pregnancy.
 
Anmltrnr98 said:
Every SeaWorld orca death reminds me how close we are to a future without Orcas in human care in the US.

To prevent accidental pregnancies, every female whale at SeaWorld provides a urine sample every single day that the vet staff analyzes to ensure the birth control is working and there are no signs of pregnancy.
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I agree. There are now 18 left at Seaworld parks.

I think the next logical step is sending San Antonio's orcas to Orlando. Orlando currently has five orcas, and the largest complex out of all parks. Once San Antonio's down to four, i'd like to see them moved to Orlando where they can continue to live in a bigger space, with more companionship.

Re. the urine sample checks; i've heard that too. I believe their females are on contraception too, and to add to that, are separated from males when cycling.

I think it's inevitable that eventually one of their females will fall pregnant accidentally. Contraception isn't always reliable, especially in larger mammals.
 
Anmltrnr98 said:
None of the parks are adequately equipped to manage multiple pods (read multiple matriarchs). I can only imagine how stressful a transition like that would be for the whales.
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There's no need for multiple pods. Takara has been in with Katina in the past, and there's no reason why she won't take a subordinate role in the pod again.

It would be much better than having just say three orcas at each park, being a social species.
 
Jambo said:
There's no need for multiple pods. Takara has been in with Katina in the past, and there's no reason why she won't take a subordinate role in the pod again.

It would be much better than having just say three orcas at each park, being a social species.
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I definitely agree that having three whales at each park would create suboptimal welfare, but I also think it's over-simplifying to think that Takara and Katina could live in the same social group after 13 years apart.

Frankly, I'm all for any plan that doesn't involve them being shipped to China.
 
Anmltrnr98 said:
I definitely agree that having three whales at each park would create suboptimal welfare, but I also think it's over-simplifying to think that Takara and Katina could live in the same social group after 13 years apart.
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True, but i'm highly confident this would work; although, animals are animals, so it's always going to be up in the air. Even if Takara and Katina didn't get along, they could still manage two seperate pods. Takara get's along well with Ky and Tuar, and a reuniting between her and Trua is long overdue. At the present time, Takara is also struggling to keep her two daughters in check; both of whom are at the stage where they're challenging the boundaries. At least if they're sent to Orlando, she'd have the support of Katina.
 
Anyone know about Nord, Narnia and Naja? I heard they are only together during shows and sometimes in the UV pool…
Chip will be soon 1 year old anyone have info on the Shanghai orcas?
 
Jambo said:
What specifically do you want to know? Afaik they're always together.
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Not since the last year, i was told the management changed and the new management is against getting captured orcas and also against breeding them. So now they keep the females on birth control almost constantly... :( i began following a regular on IG and its very obvious this is true. cause mainly Narnia and Naja are in UWV pool and from time to time they put Nord there with Narnia and/or Naja. Sometimes is Nord and Naja, sometimes is all 3 and sometimes is Nord and Narnia, but never all 3 all the time together...
So i'm wondering if they will move them to other park cause if they arent breeding them whats the point?
After all they dont have a breeding ban so for me its pointless that they act as if they had a breeding ban... ugh.
In shows they are always together.
 
orcalover83 said:
Not since the last year, i was told the management changed and the new management is against getting captured orcas and also against breeding them. So now they keep the females on birth control almost constantly... :( i began following a regular on IG and its very obvious this is true. cause mainly Narnia and Naja are in UWV pool and from time to time they put Nord there with Narnia and/or Naja. Sometimes is Nord and Naja, sometimes is all 3 and sometimes is Nord and Narnia, but never all 3 all the time together...
So i'm wondering if they will move them to other park cause if they arent breeding them whats the point?
After all they dont have a breeding ban so for me its pointless that they act as if they had a breeding ban... ugh.
In shows they are always together.
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That makes sense as obviously birth control won't work most of the time.

There's no way the Moskovarium will give up their orcas just because they won't be breeding them. They're massive cash cows to so to speak.
 
Jambo said:
That makes sense as obviously birth control won't work most of the time.

There's no way the Moskovarium will give up their orcas just because they won't be breeding them. They're massive cash cows to so to speak.
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I dont know but there are rumors of them been moved
 
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Yazziel said:
Kohana has passed away at Loro Parque

Announcement • Loro Parque
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This is devastating news :( Loro Parque has lost three orcas now in the last year and a half or so, I wonder if there's some sort of connection. Either way, I hope her keepers and the other orcas in the pod are doing well after this very sad loss. I grew up visiting SeaWorld San Diego and one of my favorite orcas of all time is Kasatka and it's very sad to see one of her sons and two of her granddaughters all passing away in the last year or so (all of whom were very young).

This should leave the park with 3.1 orcas; males Keto, Tekoa, and Adan, and female Morgan. I wonder if they'll try and breed Morgan with one of the males now that they've lost 3 of their females and their pod has nearly halved.
 
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Of course I know Loro Parque is a great facility, but I was involved in the zoo community back in 2006 when they were all moved there - I felt sick when it happened then and I still feel sick about it today. They were all too young and too related to be moved there.

I still cannot believe they moved Kohana and Skyla when they were only 4 and 2.
 
zoogoer92 said:
Of course I know Loro Parque is a great facility, but I was involved in the zoo community back in 2006 when they were all moved there - I felt sick when it happened then and I still feel sick about it today. They were all too young and too related to be moved there.

I still cannot believe they moved Kohana and Skyla when they were only 4 and 2.
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I am quite nervous to see what will happen to the social structure now that Kohana, the matriarch, has died.
 
IndianRhino said:
This is devastating news :( Loro Parque has lost three orcas now in the last year and a half or so, I wonder if there's some sort of connection. Either way, I hope her keepers and the other orcas in the pod are doing well after this very sad loss. I grew up visiting SeaWorld San Diego and one of my favorite orcas of all time is Kasatka and it's very sad to see one of her sons and two of her granddaughters all passing away in the last year or so (all of whom were very young).

This should leave the park with 3.1 orcas; males Keto, Tekoa, and Adan, and female Morgan. I wonder if they'll try and breed Morgan with one of the males now that they've lost 3 of their females and their pod has nearly halved.
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I believe they themselves even stated that Morgan will become pregnant again in the future in a Documentary I watched some time ago after Ula's death (whether it be AI or naturally, that I don't know).
 
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