One Dolphin’s Story – Keet
22Feb
Keet was born at SeaWorld San Antonio, Texas on February 2, 1993. His mother is Kalina who died at SeaWorld Orlando in 2010 at the age of 25. She was 50 percent Icelandic and 50 percent Southern Resident and only six years old when she became pregnant with Keet. Keet’s father Kotar was captured in Iceland in 1978, which means that Keet is 75 percent Icelandic and 25 percent Southern Resident. (Kotar died from a broken skull at SeaWorld San Antonio in 1995, when a pool gate crashed on his head.) Keet was Kalina’s first calf and the first second-generation orca to be born in captivity.
Even though Keet shared a close bond with his mother, SeaWorld separated them in October 1994 when Keet was less than two years old. Kalina, who was pregnant with Keet’s brother Keto at the time, was sent to SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida, while Keet was left behind to fend for himself in Texas. According to online reports, Keet was still nursing at the time.
As SeaWorld’s first male calf, Keet has performed at all SeaWorld theme parks except for the location in Orlando. Credit: Brendon McPhee, Inherently Wild
Keet has lived a turbulent existence at SeaWorld. He was relocated five times to various SeaWorld theme parks — more times than any other SeaWorld orca. In 1999, SeaWorld shipped Keto from San Antonio, Texas to its theme park in San Diego, California. The following year, in 2000, they shipped him from San Diego to its now closed theme park in Aurora, Ohio. In 2001, they shipped him back to San Diego. In 2004, SeaWorld shipped him to San Antonio for the second time. As if that wasn’t enough, SeaWorld uprooted him again in 2012 and sent him back to San Diego.
Keet has been moved from one SeaWorld park to another, as if he were a piece of furniture. Of all the stressful events in Keet’s life, being taken from his mother was undoubtedly the worst. It is ironic, therefore, that SeaWorld, on January 15, 2014, defended its treatment of these highly social and exceptionally family-oriented marine mammals by making this statement on Twitter: “SeaWorld recognizes the important bond between mother and calf.” SeaWorld added: “Everything we do in the care of whales is centered on the mother-calf bond.”* That is clearly not the case, and as far as I know, Keet never saw Kalina again after SeaWorld separated them in 1994.
*Source: SeaWorld on X, 1/15/14
Keet with his daughter Halyn who was born at SeaWorld San Antonio on October 9th, 2005. Her mother Kayla allegedly did not know how to care for her, and she was raised by trainers. SeaWorld sent Kayla away to its theme park in Orlando in November 2006, when Halyn was 13 months old. According to online sources, Halyn formed a strong bond with her father Keet, and SeaWorld trained her to pose for photo-ops on the concrete floor next to him. She passed away on June 15th, 2008 at the age of two. Credit: Beth, Inherently Wild
According to online sources, Keet has sired at least five calves, resulting in two live births, two miscarriages, and one stillborn calf. Keet’s brother Keto, too, was uprooted several times and sent from one SeaWorld location to another, before SeaWorld sent him to Loro Parque in 2006 on a so-called breeding loan and never claimed him back. Keet has a half-brother named Tuar who performs at SeaWorld San Antonio. This is where his half-sister Takara also performs. A second half-sister named Skyla entertained tourists at Loro Parque in Tenerife alongside Keto and several other orcas until her death in 2021.
Keet still performs at SeaWorld San Diego alongside Corky, Ikaika, Kalia, Makani, Orkid, Shouka, and Ulises. Even though SeaWorld ended its controversial captive orca breeding program in March 2016, Keet and the other orcas continue to fulfill their roles as entertainers, and visitors are encouraged to purchase the so-called “Killer Whale Up-Close Encounter,” with prices starting at $69.
Featured image: According to several online sources, Keet shared a close bond with his mother Kalina. As a result of SeaWorld’s controversial captive orca breeding program, which finally ended in 2016, Kalina became pregnant less than a year after Keet was born. This was probably the reason why SeaWorld separated her from Keet and shipped her off to its theme park in Orlando, Florida when Keet was not even two years old and reportedly still nursing. Later on, Keet met his younger brother Keto, but in 2006, SeaWorld sent Keto all the way to Loro Parque in Tenerife, Spain on a so-called breeding loan and never claimed him back. Today, Keet performs at SeaWorld in San Diego. Credit: Dolphin Project
Sources used in this blog:
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