The female killer whale Kiska was 47 years old.
This is reported by a number of media, including the newspaper Niagara Falls Review.
Kiska was captured in 1979, aged three. After living for a period with several killer whales, including the more famous Keiko in Iceland, she was sold to Marineland in Niagara Falls.
– Marineland’s care team and experts did everything to ensure that Kiska was well and will mourn her loss, the aquarium writes in a statement according to the newspaper.
Keiko later became famous from the film “Slipp Willy Fri”.
The killer whale is said to have been nicknamed “the world’s loneliest” as she has lived all alone in Marineland since 2011. The killer whale gave birth to five calves, but all of them died before Kiska herself.
Among those mourning the loss of Kiska is former trainer at the aquarium in Canada, Philip Demers.
Marineland in Niagara Falls received criticism in 2021 for their treatment of the killer whale, Canadians could CBC tell.
An animal welfare non-profit called on the Ontario government to investigate the aquarium’s treatment of Kiska. Marineland was not punished.
The complaint that was submitted contained, among other things, a comment from Dr. Naomi Rose, a researcher at the Animal Welfare Institute.
– At the very least, she should have long ago been transferred to a facility with other killer whales or given individuals of another whale species as companions, Rose said at the time, according to the CBC.
