Unna in 2012. Photo: Jordantea/Flickr
SeaWorld has spent the last few years on its back foot. With the 2013 release of the Blackfish documentary, people sat up and realized that keeping highly intelligent animals like orcas caged up in tiny pools for our own entertainment isn’t exactly the most humane thing in the world. And now, after years of mishaps and public outcry, they’ve lost another whale. Unna the orca died at SeaWorld in San Antonio last week.
The 18-year-old killer whale had been fighting a rare fungal infection. “The team had developed a novel treatment plan in consultation with leading medical experts around the country,” said SeaWorld in a press release. “While there were some indications that the treatment was having a positive effect, Unna had remained in serious condition and under 24/7 care.”
According to reports, Unna is the third whale to die at SeaWorld San Antonio in the last six months. She was the daughter of Tilikum, the whale that the Blackfish documentary centered around.
The actual welfare of the whale differs according to who you’re hearing about it from. SeaWorld says Unna suffered from a Candida fungal infection for just a few months. A former SeaWorld trainer, however, says that’s not true. “It’s patently false,” said John Hargrove. “When I came back to the San Antonio park in March of 2008, she had already been sick for some time.”
Hargrove was in Blackfish and wrote a book called Beneath the Surface, which is about SeaWorld’s mistreatment of their whales. “She was already on high doses of multiple medications, including an antifungal and antibiotics, every single day,” Hargrove continued. “She was chronically ill…I’m surprised she lived this long.”
