Kasatka (pronounced KAH-saht-ka) was an approximately 40-year-old female Icelandic killer whale who lived at SeaWorld San Diego. She was the matriarch of the San Diego pod for almost 3 decades. On August 15th, 2017, she was humanely euthanized following years of treatment for chronic respiratory disease. She was the mother of Takara, Nakai, Kalia, and Makani, the grandmother of Kohana, Trua, Sakari, Kamea, Amaya and Kyara, and the great-grandmother of Adán and Victoria.
Early Life & Capture[]
Kasatka was born sometime around late 1977 or early 1978 in the waters of the North Atlantic. In October of 1978, Kasatka and her pod were seine netted near Tvísker, Iceland. Kasatka and another whale named Kahana were selected to live in captivity, and the pair were loaded onto the Guðrún. Because they were from the same pod, the pair were likely related.
Kasatka and Kahana remained on the boat for about a day before arriving at Grindavík harbor, where they were moved to a sea pen. There they met another recently captured whale, Kotar. The newcomers seemingly adjusted to captivity very quickly. On October 18th, three more whales arrived at Grindavík: Katina, Kakela and an unnamed male.
Life at SeaWorld[]
Shortly after her capture, Kasatka and several other whales were purchased by SeaWorld. On October 24th, Kasatka, Kahana, Kakela, and Kotar were loaded into a Boeing 747 cargo plane and flown across the Atlantic ocean to their new home. The following day they briefly landed in Florida, where Kahana was moved to SeaWorld Orlando. The plane took off again not long after, and the 3 remaining whales were on their way to SeaWorld San Diego. They finally arrived in California about 2 days after first leaving Iceland.
Upon their arrival the 3 whales were likely introduced to the park's resident whales, Canuck II, Kandu V, Kenau and Winston. Due to overcrowding, Kasatka spent some time in the dolphin petting pool with Kotar and Canuck, along with several different smaller species of cetaceans, including bottlenose dolphins, pilot whales, belugas, false killer whales and Pacific white-sided dolphins. Kakela and Kandu may have lived in the dolphin petting pool for some time as well.
Kasatka and Katina at SeaWorld Ohio. Photo provided by SeaWorld.
Between 1982 and 1990, Kasatka was moved multiple times between all SeaWorld parks. She was moved to Ohio during its operating seasons and would return to either Orlando or California when the park was closed. For the first few years, she would perform in Ohio alongside Katina and a few dolphins. For her last years in Ohio, she would perform with Kahana. She was moved to San Antonio for about a year in 1988, where she mated through a gate with Kotar and became pregnant. On February 13th, 1990, she was moved for the last time to SeaWorld San Diego.
SeaWorld San Diego[]
Kasatka and Takara. Photo Provided by SeaWorld.
On July 9th, 1991, Kasatka gave birth to her first calf, a female named Takara. She had a very close bond with her calf and was very protective of her. Whenever the two would be separated during the night, they would spend most of the night on opposite sides of the gate trying to reach each other. Kasatka's aggression towards trainers increased after Takara's birth and she would become very upset if Takara was not with her. They continued to have a close relationship for years, and with Kasatka being the matriarch, Takara quickly took on dominant behaviors, especially when Kasatka was around.
At some point in 1999 or 2000, Kasatka was artificially inseminated with the sperm of a whale named Tilikum. She was the first killer whale to successfully conceive from artificial insemination. Takara was also artificially inseminated shortly after, again with sperm from Tilikum. This was a big step in the process of breeding captive killer whales. Both Takara and Kasatka's pregnancies were featured on Animal Planet show "That's My Baby". On September 1st, 2001, Kasatka gave birth to a male calf named Nakai. Takara was present for his birth. She helped her mom take care of him, and Kasatka taught her how to care for a calf. In May of the following year, Takara gave birth to her own calf, a daughter named Kohana. Kasatka and Nakai were present during Kohana's birth, and Kasatka helped her daughter through the process. Takara was an excellent mother and she, Kasatka, Kohana, and Nakai spent a lot of time together. Kasatka was still very protective of Takara and was the same way towards Nakai. When she was away from her calves during shows, she would get aggressive towards trainers until they were reunited. Kasatka and Takara continued to help each other raise Nakai and Kohana.
On April 24th, 2004, Takara and Kohana were transported out of California and taken to SeaWorld Orlando. Kasatka did not respond well to the move. She reportedly emitted loud distress vocalizations after Takara was moved and was incredibly upset, isolating herself from the other whales and calling out for her daughter. Later that year, in December, Kasatka gave birth to her third calf named Kalia. A day later, she had already taught Kalia how to navigate through the gates. Kalia was more timid than her previous calves, so she stayed closer to Kasatka for the first six months.
Kasatka continued to be a very protective mother, which would show through her reaction when separated from her calves. One infamous example, which happened in 2006, was when she pulled a trainer under the water by his foot and held him underwater for several minutes. After not responding to callbacks, she eventually let go. While this was happening, it’s believed that Kalia was separated from her and was in the back pool at the time. After this incident, waterworks with Kasatka were stopped. In 2008, Kasatka began slowly being reintroduced to waterwork behaviors. That same year, she was diagnosed with a bacterial respiratory infection. This was a progressive disease, and she would live with it for the rest of her life. Although she would receive treatment for many years, her immune system became weaker as she got older.
Later Years[]
Kasatka, Nakai, Kalia, Makani, Amaya. Photo Provided by SeaWorld.
Kasatka spent a lot of time with Corky and Orkid but also stayed super close with Nakai and Kalia. She got along with all the whales at the park but would displace them at times since she was the matriarch. When being grouped with the male orcas, it would typically be Nakai or Sumar. She became a reliable performer and enjoyed interacting with people. She continued treatment for her bacterial infection.
Kasatka was artificially inseminated with the sperm of an orca that lived in Argentina, named Kshamenk. She conceived a male calf and gave birth on February 14th, 2013. Kalia was present for his birth and assisted Kasatka during labor. Makani was introduced to the rest of the pod and was usually safe from aggression, since he was the matriarch’s son. In 2014, Kalia gave birth to Amaya. Kasatka was there to help Kalia raise the calf.
Death[]
In 2008, Kasatka developed a reoccurring bacterial infection. For many years she was treated for it, and she even received treatments from a custom-built inhaler. In 2017, her health began to decline. She developed prominent skin lesions, and in August she became lethargic and started to eat less. In order to prevent her quality of life from being compromised, Kasatka was humanely euthanized on August 15th, 2017, at 8:15 pm PST. Kasatka died surrounded by her pod members and caretakers. Kasatka was one of SeaWorld's most well known killer whales, and her death impacted many people. Tributes to her from fans and caretakers appeared all over social media. Following her death, Kalia and Shouka took over as the dominant females of the San Diego pod.
Personality[]
Despite Kasatka being known as a dominant female and matriarch in terms of hierarchy status, she has built close relationships within the San Diego pod and trainers throughout the rest of her life in human-care. She was a very caring, and protective mother towards all four of her calves. Even on some occasions would act as a surrogate mother towards other calves in case if the mother needed a break and or more experience in general.
Appearance[]
Kasatka could be easily identified by her eye patches, which curved upwards and had fuzzy edges. She had a thin, narrow, rostrum and had a tall dorsal fin that leaned slightly to the left
Behavioral Incidents[]
- Between 1989 and 1993, Kasatka had multiple incidents where she would mouth her trainer's thigh, leg, and feet.
- On July 31st, 1991, Kasatka grabbed a trainer's foot ("jaw popped on foot" in Injury Report) and fluked a trainer's back.
- On April 25th 1993, Kasatka tried to bite a trainer's feet and legs.
- On July 15th, 1993, Kasatka mouthed a trainer's feet and legs, grabbed a knee and dunked the trainer, and grabbed a foot and dunked the trainer.
- In 1999, after her calf, Takara, split to a back pool during a show, Kasatka began to fast swim around the perimeter. She grabbed trainer Kenneth Peters' leg and attempted to throw him out of the pool. Peters was pulled out of the pool by another trainer.
- In 2004, another incident occurred when a trainer was attempting to Scuba dive in "E" pool with Kasatka and her calf Nakai. The trainer did not have approval to swim with fins. He may have brushed her with his fins and she became aggressive, mouthing his fins and Scuba gear. She eventually responded to a hand slap stage call.
- In 2006, Kasatka attacked Kenneth Peters, SeaWorld San Diego's most experienced trainer, during a show at Shamu Stadium. She grabbed his trainer's foot and dove to the bottom of the 36-foot tank. They surfaced less than a minute later, but she ignored other trainers' signals to draw her to the side. She dove a second time with Peters for about a minute. Peters only escaped after other trainers worked a large safety net between the two. He suffered puncture wounds and a broken left foot.
- In 2008, Kasatka was reported to have come out at a trainer twice that year. [1]
Trivia[]
- Kasatka’s name was derived from the Russian word "Косатка," meaning "killer whale."
- Kasatka shared her name with a wild whale, L82 Kasatka.
- Kasatka's nicknames were "Kas" and "Kassy".
- While in captivity, Kasatka lived with a total of 32 different killer whales from 4 different ecotypes.
- When she was younger, Kasatka lived with various smaller cetacean species. She was kept with bottlenose dolphins, pacific white sided dolphins, common dolphins, false killer whales, pilot whales, and belugas off and on over the years. From 1997 to 1998, a grey whale named JJ lived in the back pool of Shamu Stadium, although none of the killer whales ever directly interacted with her. In 2010, bottlenose dolphins, a bottlenose/common dolphin hybrid, and pilot whales were briefly kept in Shamu Stadium, although they never interacted with any of the killer whales.
- Kasatka has lived at all four Seaworld parks.
Transfer History[]
| FROM: | TO: | ON: |
|---|---|---|
| Tvisker, Iceland | Capture Boat (Guðrún), Iceland | Oct. ??, 1978 |
| Capture Boat (Guðrún), Iceland | Grindavik Harbor Sea Pen, Iceland | Oct. ??, 1978 |
| Grindavik Harbor Sea Pen, Iceland | Boeing 747 (Transport Container) | Oct. 24, 1978 |
| Boeing 747 (Transport Container) | SeaWorld San Diego, California | Oct. 26, 1978 |
| SeaWorld San Diego, California | SeaWorld Aurora, Ohio | May 02, 1982 |
| SeaWorld Aurora, Ohio | SeaWorld San Diego, California | Oct ??, 1982 |
| SeaWorld San Diego, California | SeaWorld Aurora, Ohio | Apr. ??, 1983 |
| SeaWorld Aurora, Ohio | SeaWorld San Diego, California | Oct. ??, 1983 |
| SeaWorld San Diego, California | SeaWorld Aurora, Ohio | Apr. ??, 1984 |
| SeaWorld Aurora, Ohio | SeaWorld Orlando, Florida | Nov. 11, 1984 |
| SeaWorld Orlando, Florida | SeaWorld Aurora, Ohio | Apr. ??, 1985 |
| SeaWorld Aurora, Ohio | SeaWorld Orlando, Florida | Oct. ??, 1985 |
| SeaWorld Orlando, Florida | SeaWorld Aurora, Ohio | Apr. ??, 1986 |
| SeaWorld Aurora, Ohio | SeaWorld Orlando, Florida | Oct. ??, 1986 |
| SeaWorld Orlando, Florida | SeaWorld Aurora, Ohio | Apr. ??, 1987 |
| SeaWorld Aurora, Ohio | SeaWorld San Diego, California | Oct. ??, 1987 |
| SeaWorld San Diego, California | SeaWorld San Antonio, Texas | Feb. ??, 1988 |
| SeaWorld San Antonio, Texas | SeaWorld San Diego, California | Feb. 13, 1990 |
Galleries[]
- Photos of Kasatka
- Videos of Kasatka