Valentin (pronounced VAL-ehn-tin) or Val, was a 19-year-old male Icelandic killer whale who lived at Marineland Antibes. He was born there tail-first on February 13th, 1996 at 5:30pm. His mother was Freya and his father was Kim II. Valentin passed away due to a twisted intestine on October 12th, 2015 at Marineland Antibes.
Early Life[]
Valentin was the first surviving offspring of Freya and Kim II and the second killer whale to be successfully born at the park. At the time of his birth, four other killer whales were already living at Marineland Antibes. They were his parents, Freya and Kim II, a wild-caught female named Sharkane, and her 3-year-old daughter Shouka. Sharkane and Shouka were present during Valentin's birth.[1]
Life at Marineland Antibes[]
Valentin spent much of his time with his mother, Freya, and the two were very close. Throughout his lifetime, Valentin was put on medication off-and-on after exhibiting excessive sexual behaviours towards the other whales, his own mother included, and also due to multiple aggressive incidents involving his trainers.[2] Despite this, Valentin regularly performed in waterworks at the park and was described as a stable and reliable performer by his former trainers, and he was even used as a "beginner" whale for new trainers who were starting their careers. At Marineland, Valentin was trained for artificial insemination but never ended up siring a calf outside of Marineland. His only calf, Keijo, was born at Marineland Antibes on November 20th in 2013 to Wikie, but he was conceived naturally.[3]
On June 20th, 2015, Freya passed away at Marineland following a long battle with an unspecified illness for which she had been undergoing treatment for for several months. Some sources claimed she died from a heart-attack, but her exact cause of death, hypovolemic shock, was not made public until April 2025.
On October 4th, of 2015 a violent storm hit Marineland Antibes, causing severe flooding in the park which contaminated the water of the killer whale tank complex. According to the Director of Marineland at the time, the facility became severely compromised and many animals perished. A week later, Valentin passed away.
Death[]
On October 12th, 2015, Marineland Antibes announced that Valentin had passed away earlier that day. His cause of death was revealed to be twisted intestines, a fatal yet inoperable illness common in cetaceans.
In the same document that revealed Freya's cause of death, additional details on Valentin's condition were released. Other than the intestinal volvulus and rupture that was his main cause of death, there were several contributing factors, including lesions throughout his small intestine, a small foreign object in his mesentery, two nodules on his lungs, and slight dilation of his heart.[3]
Behavioral Incidents[]
- Sometime in the late 1990s / early 2000s, a young Valentin swam open-mouthed towards his trainer, Lindsay Rubincam, while thrashing.[4]
- Sometime in the early 2000s, Valentin repeatedly tried to pull his trainer, John Hargrove, underwater by his socks in an attempt to remove them. This behavior reportedly went on for two weeks.[5]
- In July of 2008, a supposed incident occurred involving his trainer, Nico. No other information is available.
Galleries[]
- Photos of Valentin
- Videos of Valentin
References[]
- ↑ 'Birth of Valentin The Killer Whale February 13th 1996 Marineland Antibes France'
- ↑ Captive Orca Valentin Has Died At Marineland Antibes - Just Four Months After His Mum
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Forensic report on orcas: 84 pages of platitudes despite malfunctions at Marineland
- ↑ John Hargrove, Beneath The Surface, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, p.170
- ↑ John Hargrove, Beneath The Surface, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, p.179