captive orca profiles 51 kotar

KOTAR - was one of the youngest orca ever captured barely one year old. He went to Hafnarfjordur and was sold to Seaworld San Diego. When he arrived at San Diego he was put in the petting pool due to his young age. 18 months later he was sent to Orlando to join in the performances there and seemed to get along with everyone until 1987 when Seaworld bought more orca and Kanduke was introduced for the breeding programme. Kotar didn't like him at all and attacked the bigger male, when he caused a serious bite injury to Kandukes genitals decisions were made to move him to the new park in San Antonio where there were many females but no males for him to compete with by then he was 9 and it was deemed could become part of the breeding programme himself. Within the next 3 years he had fathered 4 calves, sadly only one of them survived his daughter Takara. Soon Kalina was reunited with her Ohio tankmate, Samoa and introduced to male, Kotar. By the time Kalina arrived, Samoa was already impregnated with Kotar’s baby. Ten months after Kalina and Samoa were together again, tragedy struck and Samoa died during labor along with her baby. Kalina and Kotar were now alone and within six months Kalina, at the age of 6 years old, was pregnant with Kotar’s baby. Kalina was not even mature at this age given the fact that female orcas in the wild begin breeding at an average age of 13-15 years old. Baby “Shamu” was going to give birth just being a baby herself with no family to support her during her pregnancy. On February 2, 1993, Keet was born and within one year, Kalina was pregnant again. In the wild, female orcas give birth on the average of every 5 years. Since gestation is approximately 17 months, a mother’s calf would be at least 3 ½ years old before she became pregnant again. SeaWorld though only waited until Keet was one years old before allowing his mother to become impregnated again. Kalina was now pregnant for the 2nd time at only 8 years old. When Kalina was about 10 months pregnant, she was moved back to SeaWorld Orlando. Her young son, Keet was only 1 ½ years old at the time and his mother was being lifted away. Kalina and Keet would never see each other again. In the wild, male orcas never leave from their mother’s side for their entire lives. Even though SeaWorld asserts that the mother/calf bond is the greatest, this young mother and son were separated with no regard to the bond they had. Sadly Kotar didn't get to see his new son and died before he was born. Keto kept himself amused and was very playful with things, over the years he had learnt how to open the gates and on April 1st 1995 he did it again. Sadly this time the gate crashed down on him crushing his skull he was only 17 years old. During his time in captivity, Kotar has sired seven offspring; Takara, Keet and Keto as well as four others that resulted in early deaths or stillbirths. He is a true tragic example of everything wrong with the Seaworld breeding programme and captivity itself. Had there been no gate he would not be dead, he would not have bred with orcas that were still babies themselves, his mates would not have died and he would not have been separated from them. Seaworld has learnt nothing in 50 years and I doubt they ever will. — at Seaworld Aquatica San Antonio,Texas.

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