A 30-year-old orca has died at SeaWorld’s Orlando park in Florida after a short illness.
The company said the female orca, known as Kayla, died on January 28 after becoming sick two days earlier.
SeaWorld said in a statement a post-mortem in the next several weeks would reveal the cause of death.
“Although animal care specialists and veterinarians devoted around the clock attention to Kayla, she did not survive,” the company said.
Kayla began showing signs of discomfort on Saturday, and veterinarians began treating her based on what they found from a physical exam.
Park officials say her condition worsened on Sunday and she was given around-the-clock care until her death.
According to WTSP, Kayla was the first killer whale born in captivity at SeaWorld in San Antonio, Texas, in 1988, and was the second-oldest orca born in captivity.
Kayla’s calf, Halyn, died when she was just three years old.
The news of Kayla’s death has “saddened” the park but angered animal rights groups, who argue the animals have a far shorter life expectancy when kept in captivity.
The US government estimates that female orcas typically live around 50 years but can live to be as old as 80 or 90 in the wild.
Dr. Naomi Rose, a marine mammal scientist at the Animal Welfare Institute, told the Orlando Sentinel that Kayla died very young for an orca.
“That’s like literally being a 30-year-old woman. Dying at 30 is not normal,” she said.
SeaWorld stopped its Orca breeding program in 2016 amidst intense pressure from animals rights activists, shareholders and corporations following the release of the documentary Blackfish in 2013.
The film documented the life of Tilikum, who was taken from the wild as a calf and transferred between SeaWorld's parks, later killing its trainer during a performance in Orlando in 2010. The whale died in 2017 at 33-years-old.
Animal Rights group PETA has hit out at the company over Kayla’s death.
In a tweet it said: “Kayla was forced to move around the country from park to park & heartbreakingly lost babies over the years.
“After being hauled from park to park, performing tricks in chemically treated waters for a reward of dead fish, miscarrying a calf and losing another, and enduring forced artificial insemination, Kayla's suffering has come to an end.”
