World's Loneliest Orca Kept Isolated for 11 Years: 'Tantamount to Torture'

A captive whale dubbed the "world's loneliest orca" is experiencing a situation "tantamount to torture," according to an expert.

The killer whale, known as Kiska, is being kept at MarineLand, a theme zoo and amusement park in Niagara Falls, Ontario. She has been held in captivity for 43 years, and for 11 years she has been all alone in her tank.

During her captivity, Kiska has had five calves, all of which died after short lives. One survived just two months, and the longest-living one lasted six years. The average lifespan of orcas in the wild is 30 to 50 years, although they live much shorter in captivity.

Orcas are known for being highly intelligent and having complex social lives. They have one of the largest and most complex brains in the animal kingdom.

They are also the third most common species of cetaceans—a group of aquatic mammals that include whales, dolphins and porpoises—kept in aquariums and marine theme parks around the world, according to a 2019 study published in the Journal of Veterinary Behavior. The study looked at the harmful effects of holding these animals captive.

Around the world, dozens of orcas are being kept in concrete tanks. Like Kiska, many of them have spent several years and even decades in captivity.

According to the study's authors, research is increasingly showing that both captive orcas that were originally caught in the wild and those born into captivity cannot thrive under artificial circumstances such as these.

"In captivity, orcas exhibit a wide range of abnormal behaviors and often die at an early age from infections and other health conditions that are uncommon in a wild setting," the study's authors wrote. Living in concrete tanks can cause chronic stress for these animals, they said.

Lori Marino, an author of the study and founder of the Whale Sanctuary Project, told Newsweek there are "vast" individual differences in how each whale copes with living for years in a concrete tank, but "none can thrive."

"Some, like Kiska, live longer than most, but that does not mean she is experiencing good well-being. Orcas are highly social animals, and Kiska has been alone for 11 years. That is tantamount to torture," she said.

"She had five children, and all perished at young ages. That experience for her was likely extremely traumatic, as family bonds—especially between mothers and children—are extremely tight and important for orcas," Marino said.

She said Kiska exhibits a stereotypy—an abnormal repetitive behavior—that involves swimming to one particular part of her enclosure and thrashing her body.

"She has been doing this for years," Marino said. "Stereotypies are always stress-related. They are found in humans and other animals who are emotionally disturbed and are indicative of neural harm to specific parts of the brain.

"She also has worn down her teeth to the gums. This is a common oral stereotypy in captive orcas and other cetaceans. We know very little about her physical health because MarineLand is not forthcoming with that information. So her welfare is quite poor," Marino said.

In 2019, Canada passed the historic Bill S-203, which bans keeping, breeding and trading in cetaceans for entertainment purposes. But there is an exception for cetaceans already in captivity, like Kiska, who was 3 years old when she was captured in the Iceland Sea in October 1979.

"The constant that has been present in Kiska's life since the very moment of her capture is loss," the nonprofit Orca Rescues Foundation said in a Facebook post on Saturday. "She has lost everything and gained absolutely nothing from her existence as a captive orca."

"Her life since at MarineLand Canada has been bleak and completely unnatural," the post continued. "Orca are not meant to be solitary. They need each other not only for survival, but for mental and emotional health and fulfillment. Those who have seen her over the years note her lethargic, disinterested and repetitive behavior.

"She often logs at the surface and swims in counter-clockwise circles around her empty tank. Her teeth, or lack thereof, are said to be in the worst state of any captive orca," the foundation said.

Marino and other animal welfare activists are now hoping that Kiska can eventually be retired to a 100-acre sanctuary for captive orcas and beluga whales in Nova Scotia that is being developed by the Whale Sanctuary Project. The sanctuary is working toward welcoming its first residents by the end of next year, Marino said.

Marino said Kiska's life in the sanctuary—or any authentic cetacean sanctuary—would differ in important ways from being on display in a concrete tank.

"Our sanctuary would provide her with more of what she needs as an orca with regard to a natural ocean environment where she would have space to swim and a complex natural environment to interact with," she said. She would not be burdened with interactions with the public, and our singular priority would be her well-being."

She continued, "We would do all we could to promote her autonomy and her mental/physical health while also feeding her and caring for her to ensure her adaptation to the sanctuary and to provide ways to give back as much of what was taken from her by the marine park industry."

Sanctuaries cannot do everything, Marino said, but authentic ones are distinguished from zoos and marine parks "by their prioritization of the well-being of their residents over any other goals, such as ticket sales, visitor experiences, breeding to increase collections, etc."

Newsweek has contacted MarineLand for comment.