The practice of placing orca whales in captivity began in the early 1960’s. By the late 1970’s, methods for capturing wild orcas improved, and captive breeding programs began. At the same time, wildlife activists around the world fought to set these creatures free. With the popularity of the film Free Willy, people around the world began to recognize just how inhumane it was to keep orcas captive.

However, there are still plenty of marine parks that have captive orca breeding and entertainment programs. As of 2021, there are 58 captive orcas in the world, 31 of whom were born in captivity. One such orca is Kiska at Marineland Canada. Along with 2 other females and a male, Kiska was captured off the coast of Iceland in 1979. Over the decades, she has performed for hundreds of thousands of tourists and given birth to 5 babies. As of 2011, Kiska has been utterly and completely alone.

Dubbed the loneliest whale in the world, Kiska has outlived her artificially created pod (her tank mates) and her offspring. The Whale Sanctuary Project has been working to eliminate captive whales and dolphins like Kiska. One of the ways they do this is through the spreading of news about the condition of captives. On September 2, 2021, an unidentified anti-captive activist visited Kiska at her lonely tank. The activist used a drone to take videos of Kiska’s condition. What the drone recorded was extremely disturbing.

The drone footage was sent to Phil Demers, who was at one time an animal trainer at Marineland. He has since become an animal activist fighting for the same goals as the Whale Sanctuary Project. Phil wanted it to be made very clear that he was not the one who took the drone images. His activism makes him too high profile, so he feels it is safer to share drone footage sent to him from other licensed pilots. Which is what he did with Kiska’s drone footage.

Phil posted the video on September 8th with the following caption: “Anti-captivity activists entered Marineland and observed Kiska, their last surviving orca bashing her head against the wall. Please watch and share. This cruelty must end #FreeKiska.” The 30 second long video shows Kiska swimming up to her concrete viewing platform with a glass retaining wall. The concrete of her tank looks worn and in disrepair. She then begins to violently thrash and bangs her head repeatedly against the glass. An accompanying video shows an up close view of the incident.

Marineland has not made a statement as to Kiska’s fate. However, orca behavioral experts say that it is clear from the drone footage that she is in distress. “Sadly, this isn’t unique and the repetitive, self-inflicted behavior shown by Kiska has been seen in other captive orcas where years of boredom in barren, featureless tanks with little or no stimulation manifests itself this way,” said whale activist Rob Lott. “Chronic stress can compromise captive orcas’ immune systems and physiology, causing illness and sometimes death. Kiska has been without an orca companion since 2011 and is deprived of every aspect of the social culture she would have experienced in the wild.”

The drone footage of Kiska clearly in distress is quite a contrast to more recent drone videos that show healthy pods of orcas swimming through the ocean. Some drone footage shows these healthy orcas approaching humans with a playful curiosity. Others show just how vital a pod relationship is to how these creatures live. Hopefully, Kiska’s recent drone footage will lead to her receiving the treatment she deserves.