Photo: Tara Walton/Toronto Star/Getty
Canada’s last living orca in captivity has died, according to several news sites.
The orca named Kiskadied on Thursdayin Ontario’s Marineland, where she had lived for decades since she was captured, Brent Ross, a spokesperson of the Canadian province’s solicitor general ministry, confirmed to Reuters.
“Marineland’s marine mammal care team and expertsdid everything possible to support Kiska’s comfort and will mourn her loss,” a spokesperson for Marineland told theNew York Post. The outlet also noted that the theme park released a separate statement saying that her health had been declining for weeks.
Marineland has not yet responded to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Tara Walton/Toronto Star/Getty
Kiska had been captured in Icelandic waters in 1979 alongside the orca Keiko, who was featured in the filmFree Willyand had been transferred to Marineland to live out her life, according to thePost.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) eventually dubbed Kiska the “world’s loneliest orca,” Reuters reported, after all of her calves died before they reached the age of 47, and she was left to live alone in her tank since 2011.
The name is a play on the fact that orcas are known to be “extremely social animals,” according to the National Wildlife Federation.
Canada eventually passed a bill in 2019ending the captivity of whales and dolphins, however, Marineland was able to keep Kiska due to a grandfather clause that granted the park an exemption, per thePost.
Despite this, PETA and several other animal rights organizations campaigned for Kiska’s release from Marineland for years and posted statements mourning her death on Twitter.
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“Rest in peace, Kiska You’re free now,” PETAwrote in a separate tweet.
“To honor her memory & the memories of all the orcas who have died in captivity,we will continue our fightto end cetacean entertainment,” World Animal Protection U.S. also tweeted. “No animal should suffer the way she did. Rest in peace, Kiska. "
source: people.com
