Corky
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Corky (II) is a female Orca (also known as a killer whale) from the A5 Pod in British Columbia, Canada. She currently lives at SeaWorld San Diego in California. Corky (II) received her name after the park's original Corky died in December 1970. Of the other animals captured on that day, only Corky still survives.
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[edit] Life at Marineland
Corky was placed in a small pool with an adult male, Orky (II), also caught in Pender Harbor the year before her own capture. The two Orcas remained together at the park for the next 17 years.
During her time at Marineland, Corky became the first Orca to become pregnant and give birth in captivity. With her first calf, nobody even knew she was pregnant. On February 28, 1977, the first calf to be born alive in captivity was born at Marineland to Corky and Orky. The calf was a male and died after sixteen days.
Corky went on to give birth six more times while at Marineland. Kiva, the longest surviving calf, lived only a total of 47 days. There are several reasons as to why Corky's calves did not survive. The first might be that she was captured too young to have learned how to properly take care of a calf. Though, even after she went through training to teach her how to nurse, the calves continued to die. Another reason the calves died so young could be attributed to the shape of Marineland's pools — small circles. Corky had to continually push her calves away from the walls and could not properly present her mammaries to the calves so that they could nurse.
Her time at Marineland ended in January 1987, after the park was sold to SeaWorld. Corky, then pregnant for the seventh time, was moved with Orky to the park in San Diego. There, at SeaWorld, Corky suffered a miscarriage.
[edit] Life at SeaWorld
Corky and Orky were placed with the other Orcas at SeaWorld, in a system of pools much larger than those they had lived in at Marineland. Orky was desired primarily for SeaWorld's new successful breeding program, and while at SeaWorld he sired two female calves, Orkid and Kayla, both of which are still alive today.
Corky, on the other hand, never became pregnant again. Three days after the birth of his first daughter, Orky died. His daughter, Orkid, remains at the park today.
In 1987, Orky 2 along with another female named Nootka 4 were involved in an accident that injured trainer John Sillick. During a show for the public, Sillick was riding on Nootka's back when Orky received a signal to breach. Sillick's back, leg, and pelvis were broken when Orky landed on top of him; the accident was attributed to another trainer not realizing that Sillick was riding Nootka in the same area that Orky was instructed to breach. He was permanently disabled as a result of the attack, but it cannot be considered one of orca aggression, rather just a miscue on the part of trainers.
In 1989, the dominant Orca at the park, Kandu V, attempted to rake Corky — a way Orcas show dominance by forcefully scratching at another with their teeth. Kandu charged at Corky, attempting to rake her, she missed and continued swimming into the back pool, where she ended up ramming the wall, rupturing an artery in her jaw. The people in the stadium were quickly ushered out, and after a 45 minute hemmorage, Kandu V died, all the while she swam along side her 11 month old calf Orkid for the last portion of her life. Orkid, orphaned at only 11 months old, was placed with Corky, and the two remain together at the park to this day. They hold a very strong bond considering the fact Corky became Orkids surrogate mother after the death of Kandu, Orkid to this day is very protective of Corky.
Today, Corky lives with six other Orcas: (Kasatka, Ulises, Orkid, Sumar, Nakai and Kalia). Corky is one of the gentlest whales in captivity; when a trainer enters the water with a whale for the first time, the whale is always Corky. She loves to mother everyone and has adopted and partially raised quite a few whales since her move to SeaWorld: Orkid, of course, as well as Splash (now deceased), Sumar and others. Corky gets along with all of the whales, except for Ulises, who for unknown reasons will try to rake her when they're together.
Corky is easily identified thanks to her tall, straight dorsal fin, her pointed eyepatches, and most distinguishing, her large size for a female. She also tends to swim upside down in the tanks.
[edit] Corky today
Corky is now approximately 40 years old, which is about middle age for an Orca. She has lived in captivity for almost 37 years — longer than any other Orca in history. She suffers from cataracts in her right eye, though it does not seem to impair her daily activities. She still performs regularly in shows, under the stage name Shamu.
Various organizations over the years have campaigned to release Corky. Many wanted to see her returned to her mother, A23 (Stripe). Unfortunately, Stripe died in 2000. Corky has several non-captive family members she has never met, including one deceased brother, A27 (Okisollo), a living sister, A43 (Ripple), who now has calves of her own, and a younger brother A60 (Fife). On October 9, 2005, Corky became a great-aunt for the first time when Kayla gave birth to Corky's cousin's grandchild Halyn. Orcalab in British Columbia is campaigning to have Corky released into the wild. [3]. Corky is currently on medications for liver and kidney problems, which are attributable to old age. Her teeth are also completely worn down due to chewing on the sides of the tank walls.
[edit] Further reading
- Ford, John K.B.; Ellis, Graeme M.; & Balcomb, Kenneth C. (2000). Killer Whales (2nd ed.). UBC Press. ISBN 0-7748-0800-4.
- Hoyt, Erich. (1990). Orca: The Whale Called Killer (3rd ed.). London: Robert Hale Limited. ISBN 0-920656-25-0.
- Morton, Alexandra. (2002). Listening to Whales: What the Orcas Have Taught Us New York: Ballantine Publishing Group. ISBN 0-345-43794-2.
- Patryla, Jim. (2005). A Photographic Journey Back To Marineland of the Pacific Lulu Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4116-7130-0.
