#marineland antibes
Oh man. I was afraid of this :/ This just makes me really sad. He never would have died by FLOOD in the ocean. I’m scared he’s only going to be the first.
Rest in Peace Valentin.
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As some of you know, I’ve been putting together a website, and the story of Freya’s health issues that she suffered in the 80′s was written on her bio page, but I thought I’d share it now as the deceased orca pages are much smaller and less detailed, so I’m not sure if all this info will fit on there in its entirety, so here it is…..
In 1986, a routine monthly blood test showed an anomaly with Freya’s white blood cells. Another blood test three days later indicated that Freya had the beginnings of an infection somewhere in her body. She was immediately put on a course of Amoxycillin antibiotics, but these had no affect, so the vets tried other antibiotics Caphalxin, Bacampicllin, Lincomycin and Doxycycline all of which proved ineffectual at treating the whale’s rapidly worsening infection. Freya began to appear listless and would only pick at her food. Over the next few weeks, her appetite dropped to almost nothing and she developed ‘peanut head’, a dip behind the blow-hole that is an indication blubber is being drawn away from that area due to starvation.
Freya’s condition was reminiscent of other captive whales that had died of chest abscess, so Marineland’s vet, David Taylor, suspected an infection in her chest or lungs. At the time, portable x-ray machines were not powerful enough to penetrate a whales thick blubber, so the Director of the park at the time, Michael Riddell, persuaded an aircraft company to lend them a new x-ray machine used to find faults in airplane engines. The machine, powerful enough to find a hairline fracture in a block of steel, proved useless and nothing could be seen on the images it produced. However, a week later, Freya developed a radiation burn, an inflamed circular patch of skin appeared on her right side where the powerful x-ray machine had been focused. The damaged patch of skin later fall out and formed an ulcer which took over three years to heal, although the white patch on her side remains to this day.
Freya stopped eating completely, lost even more weight and started to go into kidney failure and she was sequestered to the medical tank.
The Director got in touch with an electronics company that helped the French Navy develop their Sonar technology and they agreed to bring one of their portable sonar machines to the park to test out on the whale a week later. In the interim period, Freya was fortified with vitamin injections and hormone supplements.A week later and with Freya looking “worse than ever”, the medical pool was emptied of water and the sonar machine set up. During the probe, Freya seemed uncomfortable and annoyed, “quite probably she could hear the irritating whine of the machine in a way that we could not.” She may have been able to feel the vibrations too, but the scan was a success and the inside of the whale could be seen. Freya had a raging infection and lesions between her ribs and on the outside of the right lung, and she had “chronic pleurisy.”
Freya was immediately put on a course of Erythromycin (a drug commonly used to treat legionnaires disease), and Cortistone injections. Over the next two weeks Freya’s appetite began to improve and “she started to swim around the hospital pool instead of hanging forlornly in one corner.” The sonar test was repeated which showed the lesions were starting to break up. In time Freya was allowed back into the main pool and rejoin in some shows.
David Taylor said “we continue to check the killer whale regularly and I still don’t consider her to be be absolutely one hundred percent normal, the healed scars in her chest cavity probably niggling her from time to time.”
Sources,
Vet on the Wild Side, by David Taylor
Confirmed by ex trainer at Marineland who worked with Freya (not Hargrove). Private conversation.
Photo of Freya having one of the x-rays is by Marineland Antibes (David Taylor is the man on the left in the grey)
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Gender:Male
Pod:N/A
Place of Capture: Born at Marineland Antibes, France
Date of Capture: Born March 16, 2011
Age at Capture: Captive born
Current Location: Marineland Antibes, France
On March 16, 2011, captive-born female Wikie gave birth to her first calf at Marineland Antibes. Originally thought to be female, the calf was named Moana. However, it was soon discovered that Moana was male, but his name simply stuck.
Moana’s father is the Icelandic male Ulises via Artificial Insemination, making Moana the third successful calf born through A.I.
Before he even turned 1, Moana was already learning and mastering complex behaviors thanks to his close observation of his older tank mates. While Moana has been introduced to all of his tank mates, he prefers to stay close to his mother, Wikie.
Today, Moana is 4 years old and still resides at Marineland Antibes in France.
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Gender:Female
Pod:N/A
Place of Capture: Born at Marineland Antibes, France
Date of Capture: Born June 1, 2001
Age at Capture: Captive born
Current Location: Marineland Antibes, France
On June 1, 2001, the Icelandic female Sharkan gave birth to her third calf at Marineland Antibes in France; a female later known as Wikie and sired by the Icelandic male Kim II. Unfortunately, Sharkan died at the start of 2009.
Later on in 2009, Wikie became the youngest whale ever to be successfully Artificially Inseminated at the age of just 8 years old with semen from the Icelandic male Ulises, who currently resides at SeaWorld of California. Also in that same year, Wikie was involved in an incident where she pushed a trainer underwater, just before waterworks were stopped at the park.
In 2011, Wikie gave birth to her first calf. At first it was thought the calf was female and was named Moana, but it was later announced that Moana was a male but would keep his name. Moana was the first Orca born through AI in Europe, and the 3rd in the world.
Right after Moana, however, Wikie became pregnant again and gave birth in November 2013 to another male who was later known as Keijo. It is believed that his father is Valentin, who happens to be Wikie’s half brother as they share the same father.
In May 2014, a video was posted to YouTube showing Wikie, Moana, and Keijo at the slideout. In the video, Keijo is lying on the slideout while Wikie continuously blocks him from re-entering the water, as well as coming onto the slideout twice, pushing Keijo further back towards the railing. This is most likely a learned behavior on Wikie’s part, as there is photo evidence of Sharkan forcing Wikie onto the slideout as a calf. It’s unknown why Sharkan ever displayed this behavior in the first place, however, as no wild populations have ever been observed purposely beaching their own calves.
Today, Wikie is 13 years old and still resides at Marineland Antibes with her two sons.
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Gender:Male
Pod:N/A
Place of Capture: Born at Marineland Antibes, France
Date of Capture: Born February 23, 1999
Age at Capture: Captive born
Current Location: Marineland Antibes, France
On February 23, 1999, Icelandic female Sharkan gave birth to her second calf, a male named Inouk sired by the Icelandic male Kim II.
Inouk was very close with his mother, and even assisted with the birth of his sister, Wikie - a duty normally performed by the dominant female of a pod. Unfortunately, Sharkan died in 2009, leaving Inouk to take over as the main waterworks whale until waterworks were stopped with all whales.
Since Sharkan’s death, Inouk has become close to his sister Wikie and her calves, two males named Moana and Keijo, and he can often be seen with them. He has never displayed any aggression towards his trainers, and interacts with guests often in the underwater viewing area.
Today, Inouk is 16 years old and despite his age, his dorsal has not sprouted and overall can easily be mistaken for a female Orca. It is believed that his growth is stunted.
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Gender:Female
Pod:N/A
Place of Capture: Born at Marineland Antibes, France
Date of Capture: Born on February 25, 1993
Age at Capture: Captive born
Current Location: SeaWorld of California
On February 25, 1993, Icelandic female Sharkan gave birth to her first calf at Marineland Antibes, a female named Shouka, sired by the Icelandic male Kim II. While Sharkan was a good mother to her daughter, Shouka spent most of her time with her father, Kim II, and the two became very close.
However, staff at Marineland became concerned that the two might mate and produce a calf, so the decision was made to move Shouka to Six Flags Great Adventure in 2002 but was moved again in 2004 to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, California.
Shouka was mostly kept alone at this park, apart from two Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins named Cupid and Merlin. The Argentinian male, Kshamenk, was supposed to join her in 2002, but the Argentinian government denied the move.
Shouka was a good performer but was also very dominant at Marineland, which has stayed with her and caused her to be separated from both Merlin and Cupid. This, however, presented a legal issue, as Orcas are required to be housed with at least one other Orca or cetacean species. After trying to send her to Marineland Ontario to be a companion to the Icelandic female Kiska, Six Flags decided to send her instead to SeaWorld San Diego on a breeding loan in August 2012.
In July, just a month before her move, Shouka was recorded by a park guest lunging repeatedly at a trainer. This resulted in her trainer being lifted into the air and thrown back through an open door that leads to the back of the stage. This was the first incident Shouka had been recorded being involved in, and the rest of the show was cancelled immediately afterwards.
When Shouka arrived at SeaWorld in August, she met many of the whales, including Corky II and the captive born male Keet, who has apparently attempted mating with Shouka various times. The two seem to get along well and can often be seen together.
Today, Shouka is 22 years old but does not have any calves of her own.
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Gender:Male
Pod:N/A
Place of Capture: Born at Marineland Antibes, France
Date of Capture: Born November 20, 2013
Age at Capture: Captive born
Current Location: Marineland Antibes, France
On November 20, 2013, captive-born female Wikie gave birth to her second calf; a male named Keijo. His father has never been confirmed, though it is believed that Keijo’s father is his uncle Valentin, which would mean Keijo is inbred.
Despite this, Keijo is an active calf who spends a lot of time with his mother and older half-brother, Moana. He is often seen copying the older whales during shows. However, some troubling behavior has been observed between Wikie and Keijo in the past.
On May 26, 2014, a video was uploaded to YouTube showing Keijo on the slideout. When he attempts to reenter the water, Wikie comes out of the pool and pushes him further onto the slideout. Wikie repeats this at least 2 times throughout the video. This behavior is most likely a learned behavior, as there is photo evidence of Wikie being forced onto the slideout by her own mother, Sharkan. It is unknown why Sharkan ever displayed this behavior in the first place as no wild populations have ever been observed purposely forcing their calves to beach themselves.
Today, Keijo is 1 year old and still resides at Marineland Antibes with his mother, half-brother, and two uncles.
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Gender:N/A
Pod: N/A (Mother was Freya)
Place of Capture:N/A
Date of Capture:N/A
Age at Capture:N/A
Stillborn calf born to Freya, sired by Kim II, at Marineland Antibes in France sometime in April 2003.
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Gender:N/A
Pod: N/A (Mother was Freya)
Place of Capture:N/A
Date of Capture:N/A
Age at Capture:N/A
Stillborn calf born to Freya, sired by Kim II, at Marineland Antibes in France sometime in March 2001.
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Gender:Male
Pod:N/A
Place of Capture: Born at Marineland Antibes, France
Date of Capture: Born February 13, 1996
Age at Capture: Captive born
On February 13, 1996, Icelandic female Freya gave birth to her only living calf at Marineland Antibes in France; a male named Valentin sired by Kim II. Freya had previously had two stillbirths prior to Valentin’s birth, and proceeded to have two more stillbirths afterwards.
Valentin was very close with his mother and half-sister Shouka before Shouka was moved to America. He could often be seen performing with his mother, Freya, but didn’t seem to care for interacting with the public at the underwater viewing area.
As he grew, Valentin’s dorsal had remained somewhat straighter and more erect than other captive males, possibly due to Marineland Antibes large 11 million-gallon tank complex for the whales. He was also known for a strange marking on his chin. It is unclear what it was, but it had been present for many years and did not seem to get better or worse.
Valentin is also believed to be the father of Keijo, a calf born in 2013 to Valentin’s half-sister, Wikie; meaning that Valentin would be both Keijo’s uncle and his father. However, Keijo seems healthy and appears to be doing well.
On June 20, 2015, the park was dealt a heavy blow when Freya died suddenly after a long battle with an unknown illness. Since Freya was the matriarch of the Marineland France park, it was unclear how her death would affect the social structure of the remaining 5 Orca. The fact that Valentin had been closest to his mother was particularly worrying, as wild male Orca sometimes don’t fare well after their mothers death.
On October 3rd, massive flash-flooding devastated the south of France. It also wiped out nearly 90% of the filtration and electrical systems at Marineland, causing many of the parks animals to die and turning the Orca tanks a murky greenish-black color due to mud and various other debris, possibly including toxic chemicals and substances like gasoline. It was soon learned that Marineland, despite having been flooded and closed in the past, did not have any emergency plans.
Unfortunately, on October 12, 2015, Valentin died suddenly due to Intestinal Volvulus (twisted intestine) at just 19 years old. He had not shown symptoms of the illness until a few hours before his death.
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Gender:Female
Pod:N/A
Place of Capture: Stokkseyri, Iceland
Date of Capture: October 1982
Age at Capture: Approx. 1 year
Sometime in October 1982, a group of five whales were captured off the coast of Stokkseyri, Iceland. They were immediately transferred to the Hafnarfjordur Aquarium where they were trained and put up for sale.
By March of 1983, a young female, later known as Freya, was purchased by Marineland Antibes in France, along with Kim II - a male she had been captured with. When they arrived at the park, they met Betty, the resident female who displaced Freya and showed dominance over her. However, they soon began to get along until Betty’s death in 1987, resulting in Freya becoming the dominant whale at the park.
In 1986, Freya had Pleurisy (inflammation of the tissues that line the lungs and chest cavity). While having x-rays taken, she suffered a radiation burn that took 3 years to heal and left a permanent, circular white scar.
Marineland soon purchased two new whales named Sharkan and Tanouk in 1990. Freya was pregnant by Kim II before they arrived, but in 1991, Freya delivered a stillborn. She had another stillborn in 1993, and was put on medication due to possible depression caused by the loss of her calves. The same year, Sharkan gave birth to a female calf named Shouka.
In February of 1996, Freya gave birth to her first and only live calf, a male named Valentin whom she was very close with. Freya went on to have two more stillbirths - one in 2001 and another in 2003.
Afterwards, she was placed on birth control and kept on medication for her depression. She was later taken off birth control in hopes of being artificially inseminated, but she never became pregnant.
While Freya lived a life in captivity mostly without incident, she was involved in an incident with one trainer in 2008, in which she repeatedly attempted to submerge him underwater and pushed him around the tank. At one point in a video taken by a park guest, the trainer can be seen with his hands in Freya’s mouth, though he was able to exit the tank without any serious injuries.
On June 20, 2015, Freya died suddenly after a lengthy battle with an illness - though the illness that caused her death has not been disclosed to the public. Unfortunately, four months later on October 12, Valentin, Freya’s only living calf, also died due to Intestinal Volulus (twisted intestines).
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