A Video Of Marineland’s 'Loneliest Orca' Is Breaking The Hearts Of Everyone On The Internet
An old "Free Kiska" petition is resurfacing online, too.
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Marineland is getting in some hot water online. A video of Kiska the orca, one of Marineland's sea life attractions, has received thousands of likes, retweets and upvotes after it was posted online on July 16, revitalizing calls for the animal to be freed.
The video (posted by Phil Demers, a former Marineland worker) shows the lonely orca slowly moving around the water, floating close to the top and faintly moaning. According to Demers' caption, Kiska has been in complete isolation since 2011.
UPDATE: We have more heartbreaking video of Kiska, MarineLand\u2019s last surviving orca floating listlessly at the surface of her concrete pool. She has lived in complete isolation since 2011. Witnesses say she often calls out for other orcas. #FreeKiskapic.twitter.com/TWyw9x781B— Phil Demers (@Phil Demers) 1626479113
Several Twitter users replied to the video, expressing sentiments of how difficult it is to watch the video. One Twitter user called the video "infuriating and sad," while another called on music legend Cher to "please" help the orca.
"Sad, just so sad!! What can we do to help Kiska! I love her and this breaks my heart!!!" another Twitter user wrote.
The video also made it to Reddit, where it received over 8,000 upvotes and nearly 1,000 comments.
"Free Kiska"
The massive online attention is also renewing calls to free Kiska, including on a two-year-old petition floating around on Change.org. The petition asks Ontario's former Premier Kathleen Wynne and Doug Ford to move Kiska into an "appropriate facility" like a whale sanctuary, where "she can begin to acclimate to the wild and live a more natural and healthy life."
There are currently 5,130 signatures on the petition at the time of this article's publication, many of which have come in the past 24 hours.
Narcity has reached out to Marineland for comment on the claims but did not hear back before publication.
Not only has the orca video drawn people's ire, but a months-long inspection by Animal Welfare Services on Marineland has also found that the marine animals there were in distress due to water quality, according to The Canadian Press. The Niagara Falls park reportedly appealed an order and denied that their animals were in distress.
