Import of Killer Whale by Sea World Opposed; Probe of Death Urged

Federal officials reviewing a Sea World request for a permit to import a killer whale from Brazil are looking into charges that a popular killer whale may have died of starvation at the marine park last year, a spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Concerns about drastic weight loss suffered by Orky after he came to Sea World in 1987 were voiced to the National Marine Fisheries Service in a March 8 letter from Monitor, a Washington, D.C.-based consortium of conservation and animal welfare groups.

In the letter, Monitor official Craig van Note urged federal officials to review the full necropsy report on Orky before issuing Sea World a permit to import a female killer whale now at Acuarama, a marine park in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

The report, which Sea World furnished to NMFS to defend its practices, listed the official cause of death as “acute bronchopneumonia resulting from the weakened state associated with chronic weight loss,” and said veterinarians had tried to save Orky by increasing his food intake and treating him with antibiotics.

Lost One-Third of Weight

Van Note cited other Sea World reports that Orky lost 4,400 pounds, or one-third of his body weight, between his transfer to Sea World in February, 1987, from a marine park outside Los Angeles and his death in September, 1988.

“We are disturbed that a large, healthy animal, under constant supervision by experienced personnel, could lose more than 4,000 pounds in such a comparatively short time,” he said.

“It has been suggested that food deprivation may be employed as a training technique for the killer whales, and other marine mammals, at Sea World. . . . We hope it will be possible to ascertain to what extent, if any, food deprivation has been employed by personnel at the several Sea World facilities.”

In a March 22 letter to NMFS responding to Monitor’s charges, the marine park chain’s zoological director Edward D. Asper said, “It is Sea World’s policy not to restrict the diet of our animals for training purposes.

Limited Discretion

“Under the supervision of our veterinary staff, trainers have limited discretion in terms of the allocation of food as long as the animal meets its dietary requirements,” Asper added.

Ann Terbush, chief of the NMFS permit division, said Wednesday the agency is looking into Monitor’s charges and six other complaints about Sea World practices raised after the application permit was published in February.

“It is our policy to look into any comments or concerns that are raised before we make a final decision,” Terbush said.

The review should be complete and the permit either approved or denied “within a couple of weeks,” Terbush said.

At the time of Orky’s death, Sea World general curator Jim Antrim said the 28-year-old killer whale died “of an advanced geriatric condition.”

Injured a Trainer

Orky, considered the patriarch of Sea World’s killer whale herd, gained notoriety in November, 1987, for injuring a trainer during a performance.

Just three days before Orky’s death on Sept. 26, 1988, a calf he sired, Baby Shamu, was born during a park show before nearly 2,000 spectators in the San Diego Shamu Stadium.

Dr. Bob Hofman, scientific program director for the National Marine Mammal Commission, said Orky’s weight loss “certainly is not inconsistent” with the effects of old age.

Other Reasons for Weight Loss

“Weight loss can be caused by a whole host of things,” including old age, stress or immobility, Hofman said.

Hofman said Orky, acquired by Sea World in 1987 when it completed a hard-fought purchase of Marineland, a Palos Verdes marine park, was thought to be the oldest killer whale ever in captivity.

Sea World spokesman Dan LeBlanc said the application for a permit to import the killer whale from the Sao Paulo park is the only such request Sea World has submitted.

In 1983, Sea World was given a permit to capture killer whales in the Pacific Northwest. Terbush termed that decision “very controversial” and said that, following prolonged objections from environmentalists and Alaska state officials, the permit was invalidated by federal court order in January, 1985.