PETA Statement: Orca’s Death at SeaWorld Orlando Shows That All Survivors Must Be Released Without Further Delay
For Immediate Release:
December 21, 2025
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
She was abducted from the waters off Iceland in 1978, and now she is the 46th orca to die on SeaWorld’s watch. She was Katina, one of the three remaining wild-captured orcas confined at SeaWorld parks and the only one at SeaWorld Orlando. She was around two years old when taken from her pod and was shuffled between marine parks for years.
Please see the following statement from PETA President Tracy Reiman:
After being ripped away from her pod in the waters off Iceland in 1978, Katina was confined to small concrete cells for life; SeaWorld then used her as a breeding machine and forced her to bear seven calves—four of whom are already dead. She sustained a serious dorsal fin injury from incompatible tankmates she couldn’t escape, and now Katina has died in her prison. Corky and the other orcas still held captive at SeaWorld are also doomed unless they are released now, and PETA is calling on the abusement park to make a plan immediately for them to go to seaside sanctuaries and save them in their 11th hour.
In nature, orcas can swim 150 miles in a day and may live to be 80 years old. More than 500 dolphins and whales have died at SeaWorld, many prematurely. The survivors lead lives of deprivation, with nothing to do but swim in circles and fend off attacks from their stressed tankmates.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
