SeaWorld Fact Check

AskSeaWorld - Keiko

SEAWORLD FACT CHECK:

During the five years that Keiko lived in a sea pen, a netted-off bay, or the open ocean, there were 14 captive orca deaths worldwide.

Four orcas died at SeaWorld. Two of these whales died from pneumonia, the same condition that killed Keiko. Keiko was 27 years old when he died1.

Keiko - sea pen - overhead

Keiko - Sea pen

Given that 10-year-old Katerina’s illness was reported to have been undetected until the day before she died, and 22-year-old Bjossa’s was a chronic condition that SeaWorld was unable to cure, it is unlikely that Keiko's condition would have had a different outcome in captivity.

1 https://theorcaproject.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/orcas-dead-by-date-2013-12-05.pdf

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SEAWORLD SAYS:

We asked Mark Simmons, author of Killing Keiko, and he said, “Yes.”