San Antonio officials believe last month's
death of a killer
whale was caused by coins, tile and other objects the
orca had swallowed years ago at a marine park overseas.
Winnie, a 26-year-old killer whale and the second one to
die at the
San Antonio park in about eight months, had lived at the
Windsor
Safari Park in Windsor, England, for 13 years.
A necropsy performed by SeaWorld and independent
pathologists shortly
after the whale died April 11 revealed it had ingested
pieces of tile
and British coins, along with nuts, bolts and other
small items that
made up a roughly 12-pound mass of objects that blocked
her upper
gastrointestinal tract.
The blockage prevented absorption of nutrients from her
food, causing
an electrolyte imbalance that made her too sick to
respond to
antibiotics, park officials said.
The 4,200-pound whale, originally captured near Iceland,
shared a
tank with dolphins at Windsor Safari Park, which closed
in 1992 amid
financial troubles. Animal activists cheered closure of
the park.
When Winnie was sold to SeaWorld and flown to its former
park in
Aurora, Ohio, in 1991, she was believed to be one of the
last killer
whales still in captivity in England at the time.
Dudley Wigdahl, vice president of zoological operations
at SeaWorld
San Antonio, described Windsor Safari Park as a small,
antiquated
marine park. He said he believes the foreign objects
were coins
people had thrown into the water, and broken ceramic
tiles that had
lined Winnie's tank.
The nature of her death underscores the need to respect
nature,
because animals often mistake plastic bags and other
refuse for food,
Wigdahl said.
"Where we see it is when we get a beached animal" that
SeaWorld tries
to rescue, he said.
To prevent similar tragedies, SeaWorld sells drinks
without plastic
straws; stores its ice in pink plastic bags that can
easily be
spotted; and has divers check its tanks for foreign
objects at the
end of each day, park officials said.
The park still has three healthy killer whales.
SAN ANTONIO (AP) - For the second time in less than a year, a
SeaWorld killer whale has died at the marine park in San Antonio.
The 4,200-pound whale named Winnie had been treated with
antibiotics since
last month and died Thursday. She had been performing at the park
since 1999. SeaWorld officials and Brooks Air Force Base pathologists were trying to determine the cause.
A total of seven orcas have died at SeaWorld San Antonio since it
opened 14 years ago. The marine park has three surviving whales and no immediate plans to acquire another.
``The whales that we have all know the shows,'' Dudley Wigdahl, vice
president of zoological operations, said in Saturday's San Antonio
Express-News. ``All are quite capable of performing through the
summer.''
Last year, a 5,700-pound orca named Haida died due to a brain
abscess that
originated with a common fungus. Both whales had been captured in the wild.
Animal rights activists have long sought a ban on using orcas in
marine parks, complaining that confinement causes psychological, physical and developmental problems that shorten the whales' lives.
Marine park officials argue captivity has not been proven harmful
and can
protect the whales from disease, predators, pollution and fishing
nets.
Marine biologists believe killer whales live 50 to 70 years on
average, although biologists have only about 35 years of data on the species, Wigdahl said.
Winnie was believed to be about 26 years old, and Haida was about
21.