A Whale Of A Week


Corky's Life in Captivity. In 1969 off the coast of British Columbia, a pod of orcas was attacked by humans in boats. Calves were forcibly and violently separated from their mothers—a bond that many wild orcas share for life—and sold into captivity. One of the young orcas taken that day was Corky.

This is her story.
Today, Corky is locked inside one of SeaWorld’s tiny tanks, swimming in endless circles. Her siblings and other members of her pod still swim freely in the ocean, but the only life that Corky knows is one of deprivation, suffering, and loss.

On this page, you can learn more about Corky and then join the hundreds of thousands of people calling on SeaWorld to release the long-suffering orcas it holds captive into coastal sanctuaries, where they can experience some semblance of the natural lives that they’ve been denied for so long.

Corky's Tragic Role in Orca-Breeding Programs. From 1977 to 1986, Corky was inseminated time and time again, six times by her own cousin. Once grown, her babies would have been forced to live out their lives in captivity like their mother. But Corky’s longest surviving calf lived for only 47 days. Her last pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. Her dead baby was found at the bottom of a tank.

Possibly missing her own calves, Corky spent a lot of time close to a young female orca named Orkid when they shared a tank at SeaWorld. But this may have led to jealousy. Orkid’s mother, Kandu, attacked Corky. Forcefully charging Corky, Kandu broke her own jaw, severing arteries in her head. It took 45 minutes for Kandu to die as her calf watched.
From the minute she was taken from the ocean, Corky’s life has been full of confusion, pain, and death. Had any of her own calves survived, it’s likely they would have been taken from her anyhow—shipped elsewhere to sell tickets and breed more orcas. Marine parks like SeaWorld routinely separate mothers from their babies at will, as if they were merely money-making objects.

Bringing Corky Home
Urge SeaWorld to Send Corky to a Seaside Sanctuary. While SeaWorld has ended its orca-breeding program, the company must empty its tanks and release these long-suffering animals into ocean sanctuaries, where they can have some semblance of a natural life.
In the wild, cetaceans have been documented swimming up to 100 miles a day in the open ocean, but captive orcas are confined to small tanks in which the reverberations from their sonar bounce off the walls, driving some of them insane. Some of these animals, like Corky, were violently captured and torn away from their homes in the wild, and many are forced to learn and perform circus-style tricks. According to whistleblower tips from trainers, withholding food from animals who refuse to perform is a common training method, and because of the intense frustration caused by captivity, orcas gnaw on the metal gates and concrete corners of the tanks and damage their teeth.
The only thing that people learn from visiting a SeaWorld theme park is how miserable life is for the animals confined there. Marine parks teach all the wrong lessons: that it’s acceptable to imprison animals, to deprive them of freedom of movement and choice, to forbid them the chance to establish their natural territory and explore, to breed and separate them at will, and to watch them go insane from loneliness and frustration.

SeaWorld has taken a step forward, but ending its sordid orca-breeding program does nothing to help animals like Corky who will continue to swim in circles inside tiny tanks for decades until they die. Help Corky today by taking a moment to ask the company to implement a firm and rapid plan to release her to a sea sanctuary where she will be given a semblance of the natural life that she has been denied for so long.

AAH Update October 2016

Just this week, two North Atlantic right whales were found DEAD -- entangled in fishing gear.

These critically endangered creatures are dying. Only 5OO North Atlantic right whales are left.

Sign your name to help STOP the brutal slaughter of whales:


A new study has revealed that the North Atlantic right whales are threatened by a dramatic increase in lethal entanglements with fishing gear.[1]

Their numbers are dwindling -- less than 5OO remain in the ocean.

Despite a moratorium on commercial whaling, these animals are struggling to survive. They will go extinct until we act now.
Sign Your Name: Stop the brutal slaughter of whales >>
Save Whales

As far back as 199O, ship strikes and entanglement with fishing nets were responsible for one-third of right whale deaths. Now, fishing gear is the dominant cause of death for North Atlantic right whales.

Young whales become trapped -- unable to escape. The ropes tangled around their head, causing a long, painful death.

It’s horrific. We can’t stand by and let this happen any longer.

Sign your name to help protect whales:

http://go.saveanimalsfacingextinction.org/Save-Whales

Corky's Story Will Break Your Heart