Whale on Loan to Sea World Dies : 1,400-Pound Mammal Was Brought to San Diego in 1987

A 1,400-pound, 11-foot beluga whale on loan from the Minnesota Zoo to Sea World has died unexpectedly, the San Diego theme park announced Tuesday.

Little Girl, which died Monday of cardiopulmonary collapse, was about 15 years old and had been on loan to Sea World as part of a breeding program since 1987.

Extensive laboratory tests are being conducted to find the cause of the cardiopulmonary failure, Sea World spokesman Dan LeBlanc said.

Little Girl’s death came about very quickly, he said. Although irregularities with the whale’s food intake were detected Saturday and a blood sample was taken Sunday, no serious problems were detected.

The whale was brought to San Diego with Big Mouth, a sick male beluga whale also from the Minnesota Zoo that was transferred to Sea World for treatment.

Although Little Girl was not sick at the time, she was brought here with Big Mouth because scientists have found that whales cannot survive when they are alone, and she was the only other beluga whale at the Minnesota Zoo.

After their arrival in Sea World, the whales were separated and placed with other sea mammals. Big Mouth was put in a tank with dolphins away from the public, LeBlanc said.

Little Girl shared the stage with two younger beluga whales in the “New Friends” show in Sea World. She had received some training at the zoo, and she was “doing great out there,” LeBlanc said.

Beluga whales are not rare and are found in Arctic waters. They live about 20 to 25 years in the wild, so Little Girl was considered to be of advanced middle age.

Big Mouth remains in guarded but stable condition because of an inflammatory bone disease he contracted in Minnesota, LeBlanc said.

Although they were caught together in Canadian waters in 1977 and were kept in the same tank in Minnesota, Big Mouth did not pay much attention to Little Girl, and there is little evidence they had tried to breed, LeBlanc said.