OUTSIDE BREVARD: SeaWorld’s 18-Year-Old Killer Whale ‘Unna’ Dies Of Rare Infection
By Jason Wells, Buzzfeed.com // December 22, 2015
third Whale to die in San Antonio in the past six months
(Buzzfeed.com) – Unna, an 18-year-old killer whale at SeaWorld in San Antonio, Texas, died Monday from a rare fungal infection, park officials announced.
For months, Unna had been battling a resistant strain of a fungus called Candida, which is found in wild cetaceans. A necropsy will be performed to determine the official cause of death, SeaWorld said in a statement.
All killer whale shows were canceled at the park in Unna’s memory.
Unna, born Dec. 27, 1996, had been put on what the park described as a “novel” treatment of medications as they tried to keep the infection from spreading to her kidneys. Killer whales in the wild have an average age of about 50 years.
Unna’s death was the latest bad news for the park.
Stella, a female beluga whale, died in November after experiencing gastrointestinal problems, and in July, a premature beluga calf also died.
