Japanese Parks

Kamogawa Sea World (unaffiliated with SeaWorld Corp.), has one of the smallest orca tanks I have ever seen, and it houses four orcas. I imagine that conditions in this park are pretty dismal, and I would like to know more about their records and other husbandry practices.

Kamogawa Sea World announced that they moved Ran II back to their park for breeding purposes. Currently, all the orcas in their small park are female. It's thought that they are planning to breed the females with semen imported from Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, from Orpheus or Tyson.

Additionally, Kamogawa Sea World is one of the only parks that still practices waterworks style shows, where the trainers enter the water with the whales. This carries with it inherent risks and an increased chance of injury to the trainers. 

Statistics

Captive born: January 11th, 1998

Mother: Stella 

Father: Bingo (d)

Sex: Female

Age: 25

Weight: 4,630 lbs, 2,100 kilos

Length: 16.7 ft, 5 m

Breed: 100% Icelandic

Full Siblings: Lara, Sarah (d), Ran II, and Lynn

Calves: Earth and Luna

About Lovey

Lovey is the oldest whale at Kamogawa Sea World (which is not affiliated with the SeaWorld parks in the United States). Lovey lives with two of her sisters and her daughter, Luna. Lovey's son, Earth, and her mother, Stella, now live at the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium. KGSW is a very small park, and the housing is probably extremely crowded with that many whales. Kamogawa is also one of the only parks in the world that still does waterwork-style shows, where the trainers get into the water with the whales. 

Aggressive Incidents & other injuries

Lovey has never been involved in any documented instances of violence toward trainers. 

Statistics

Captive born: February 8th, 2001

Mother: Stella 

Father: Bingo (d)

Sex: Female

Age: 22

Weight: 4,850 lbs, 2,199 kilos

Length: 17.3 ft, 5.2 m

Breed: 100% Icelandic

Full Siblings: Lovey, Sarah (d), Ran II, and Lynn

About Lara

Lara lives at the Japanese park with two of her sisters and her niece, Luna. Lara was separated from her mother, Stella, her father, Bingo, her sister Ran II, and later her nephew Earth when the they were moved to the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium. After Earth was moved to Nagoya, Ran II moved back to Kamogawa. Even with the four remaining whales, Kamogawa is still a very small park. 

Aggressive Incidents & other injuries

Lara has never been involved in any documented instances of violence toward trainers. 

Statistics

Captive born: February 25th, 2006

Mother: Stella

Father: Bingo (d)

Sex: Female

Age: 17

Weight: 3,750 lbs, 1,700 kilos

Length: 16 ft. 4.8 m

Breed: 100% Icelandic

Full Siblings: Lovey, Lara, Sarah (d), and Lynn

About Ran II

Ran originally moved with her pregnant mother and her father, to the Port of Nagoya. Ran assisted her mother Stella as she gave birth to Ran's sister, Lynn. Bingo passed away not long after, and Ran returned to Kamogawa, trading places with Earth. KGSW has announced that Ran was moved for breeding purposes, as they plan to do artificial insemination in the future. The only male killer whale in the country of Japan is Earth, and so it's thought that Kamogawa will import semen from Chimelong Ocean Kingdom, from Tyson, Orpheus, or other males in the park. 

Aggressive Incidents & other injuries

Ran II has never been involved in any documented incidents of aggression or violence toward trainers. 

Statistics

Captive born: July 19th, 2012

Mother: Lovey

Father: Oscar (d)

Sex: Female

Age: 10

Weight: 617 lbs, 280 kilos

Length: 9 ft, 2.8 m

Breed: 100% Icelandic

Full Siblings: Earth

About Luna

Luna is the youngest whale in Kamogawa. Her father, Oscar, died when she was five months old. Kamogawa obviously planned the breeding of Bingo and Oscar and Stella and Lovey carefully to prevent inbreeding. Luna's weight and length were taken when she was much younger, so she is probably significantly larger now. 

Luna means 'moon', in Latin. 

Aggressive Incidents & other injuries

Luna has never been involved in any documented violent incidents with trainers. It's unclear to me if this is because the whales in Kamogawa are not violent or if it's because it simply isn't documented. I would guess that there is probably an unrecorded history of aggression with these whales, because of their close quarters and waterworks style shows.

Statistics

Captured: October 1987

Sex: Female

Age: 35

Weight: 4,850 lbs, 2,199 kilos

Length: 17 ft, 5.1 m

Breed: 100% Icelandic

Calves: Lovey, Lara, Sarah (d), Ran II, and Lynn

About Stella

Stella has experienced separations from most of her calves at some point, and she now resides with her daughter Lynn and grandson Earth. Stellas gave birth to Lovey and Lara at Kamogawa Sea World, then Sarah, who died as an infant. She had Ran II and became pregnant with Lynn before moving to Nagoya, where Lynn was born. Stella's longtime mate, Bingo, died in 2014. It's likely that she will have more calves, as both Japanese parks want to continue captive breeding in the form of artificial insemination. It's unclear what their source of semen will be, as Earth is the only captive male killer whale in Japan. 

Stella's fin leans to the left side. 

Aggressive Incidents & other injuries

Stella has never been involved in any documented cases of aggression, but I am skeptical about the truth of that figure, because she has been removed from shows and placed on special watch several times.

Statistics

Captive born: October 13th, 2008

Mother: Lovey

Father: Oscar (d)

Sex: Male

Age: 14

Weight: 2,866 lbs, 1,299 kilos

Length: 14 ft, 4.2 m

Breed: 100% Icelandic

Full Siblings: Luna

About Earth

During the early years of his life, Earth spent a lot of time with his mother Lovey and his younger sister Luna. Lovey served as the matriarch of her two calves. Earth was removed from his mother's care in 2015, when he swapped places with Ran II and moved to Nagoya, where he now lives with his grandmother, Stella, and his aunt, Lynn. Earth is the only male captive killer whale in the country of Japan. 

For about a year, up until November of 2020, Earth was kept in isolation from Lynn and Stella within the aquarium. It's unclear why they were separated or if it will be done again. This treatment is not good for Earth. During his isolation, he would knock his head into the side of the tank and log in place for hours, unusual behaviors for an orca, but common in captivity. 

Aggressive Incidents & other injuries

Earth has never been involved in any documented cases of aggression towards trainers. 

Statistics

Captive born: November 13th, 2012

Mother: Stella

Father: Bingo (d)

Sex: Female

Age: 10

Weight: 2,100 lbs, 952 kilos

Length: 12.8 ft, 3.9 m

Breed: 100% Icelandic

Full Siblings: Lovey, Lara, Sarah (d), and Ran II

About Lynn

Lynn was the first orca to be born in Nagoya, although she was conceived in Kamogawa, and Stella moved when she was pregnant. Not long after her birth, Lynn's father, Bingo, died. All the whales, Ran, Bingo, and Stella, were together when Lynn was born. 

In the past, Lynn has been photographed with spotty skin on her entire body. This is usually a sign of disease or illness, but it has since gone away. Additionally, Lynn has been more recently photographed with red and bloodshot eyes. This is usually a sign of stress. 

Lynn has freckles on her chin which can be used to identify her.

Recently, in May of 2021, Lynn has been reported to be spending most of her time in the medical pool with her mom, as she is sick. I hope she gets better soon, but we won't know her condition for some time.

Aggressive Incidents & other injuries

Lynn has never been involved in any documented incidents of violence toward trainers.