World Animal Protection US’ Statement on the Passing of Katina the Orca

Katina is the 46th orca to die at SeaWorld. Captured near Iceland at just two years old, Katina never knew the wild and free life she deserved. Her death after decades in captivity is not an isolated tragedy, but the predictable outcome of a cruel system that exploits thousands of marine mammals. Wild animals like Katina are meant to live in the open ocean, alongside their families, swimming dozens of miles each day—not confined to miserable concrete tanks and forced to perform for human entertainment. Enough is enough. Animals do not exist for our amusement, and it is long past time for SeaWorld to move out of the past and away from captivity-based ‘entertainment.’ If it cannot do so, it has no place operating at all.