Orca whales are not meant to live in captivity, to put it plainly, and suffer tremendously in confinement. In their natural habitat, they can swim up to 100 miles per day, whereas in a theme park, they may, at best, swim and live in tanks only a few hundred feet in length. At worst, they may have practically no mobility whatsoever.
Born in captivity at SeaWorld in San Antonio, Texas, Kayla the orca never had the experience of swimming in the ocean. She died on Jan. 26 at Orlando’s SeaWorld, making her the fourth orca to die at one of the theme parks since 2017. In the wild, female killer whales’ average lifespan is around 50 years of age, though they can live to be 100. Kayla was 30 years old when she died.
