Skip to content
All news
  • All news
  • About whales & dolphins
  • Corporates
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Green Whale
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Scottish Dolphin Centre
  • Stop whaling
  • Stranding
  • Whale watching
Japanese whaling ship

Infamous whale slaughter ship docks for the final time

The whaling ship, Nisshin Maru has returned to the port of Shimonoseki for the final...
Sperm whale

Dominica announces new protections for sperm whales

Dominica has placed almost 800 square kilometers of sea off the west coast of the...
Porpoise dies after becoming entangled in fishing net

UK government rejects chance to protect whales and dolphins

The government has formally rejected almost all of the crucial recommendations made in a House...
Common dolphins © Christopher Swann

Ocean areas selected for conservation are now in danger says task force

The international task force celebrating 10 years of work mapping out Important Marine Mammal Areas...

Orca dies at SeaWorld San Antonio

WDC is saddened to hear the news that Unna, a female orca held at SeaWorld’s park in San Antonio, Texas, has died. She was just 18 years old.

For the past few months Unna had been fighting a chronic fungal infection but failed to respond to treatment. She died on December 21st and SeaWorld announced that all orca shows would be cancelled at the park for the remainder of the day.

Unna is the third whale to die at the Texas park in the past 6 months. In November, a two year old beluga died of intestinal problems and in July a beluga died after being born prematurely.

Even though Unna was born in captivity she was 100% Icelandic. Her mother is Katina who was captured in Icelandic waters in 1978. Her father, Tilikum, who featured in the 2013 ground-breaking documentary, Blackfish, was captured from the same area in 1983.

There are now 56 orcas held captive in the world today – 23 of these are at SeaWorld’s three American parks.

 

About George Berry

George is a member of WDC's Communications team and website coordinator.