2,000 Visitors See Whale Give Birth at Sea World

A crowd of about 2,000 people gazed spellbound from their seats in Sea World’s largest show stadium as Kasatka, a 5,000-pound killer whale, gave birth Tuesday to a 300-pound baby, park officials said.

Kasatka, one of three killer whales at the park, went into labor about 9 a.m. Wednesday morning and, by noon, the baby’s flukes were visible, Dan LeBlanc, the park’s spokesman said.

The birth at 12:11 p.m. marked the end of an 18-month pregnancy watched closely by the park’s veterinarians--and by park-goers more recently.

One woman, who had an annual pass, had come to the park every day for 40 days waiting for the baby’s birth, LeBlanc said.

The baby, whose sex probably won’t be known for a week, will be given the stage name of Shamu and its own name known only to its trainers, he said.

The newest arrival to the Sea World killer whale family in San Diego makes four. It joins its mother Kasatka, adult female Corky, and Orkid, a 2 1/2-year-old female also born at the park.

The park will offer educational shows over the next few days in lieu of its regular Shamu show to give the new mother and baby all the time they need to bond and to introduce the public to the new arrival, LeBlanc said. The two will be housed in the park’s largest pool, where the baby was born, until the baby is ready to go through the gates to one of the pools away from public view.

Kasatka, the new baby’s mother, came to San Diego from Sea World in San Antonio, LeBlanc said.

While at the Texas park, the 17-foot-long female mated with Kotar, Sea World’s only male killer whale.

Both Kasatka and Kotar are estimated to be 14 to 16 years old and were captured off the coast of Iceland. It was the first time either whale had mated in captivity, LeBlanc said.

The baby appears to be in good health, LeBlanc said.

Before Tuesday’s birth, there had been six killer whales born in captivity at the Sea World parks. Five have survived.

The birth of the seventh baby whale is a joyous occasion for the parks’ breeding program, park officials have said. Without federal permits to capture killer whales in the wild, the parks depend largely upon newborns to stock their shows.

Sea World can apply for a federal permit to collect killer whales in the wild, but opponents to those captures in the wild have been successful in blocking them in recent years.