Death of ‘world’s loneliest orca’ sparks calls for change

Visitors to MarineLand watch Kiska in the tank where she spent her last 12 years alone. Photograph: Norman Pogson/Alamy

Sometimes known as “the world’s loneliest orca”, Kiska the killer whale spent more than four decades in captivity at MarineLand, a theme park in Niagara Falls, Canada.

For the last 12 of those years, despite wild orcas being social and intelligent animals that live in tight-knit family pods that hunt together and communicate through underwater clicks and calls, Kiska swam alone, in a featureless tank, with no calves, mate or mother by her side. She was the last captive orca in Canada.