Kakela

Kakela. Photo provided by Sarpur.

Kakela *(pronounced kaw-kay-LAH or keh-keh-LAH, pronunciation unclear)*, also known as Shawn *(sh-AW-n)* was an approximately 2-year-old female Icelandic killer whale who lived at SeaWorld San Diego. She was captured on October 17th, 1978 off the coast of Skaftárós, Iceland at approximately 1 year old. Kakela passed away soon after due to bacterial pneumonia on September 3rd, 1979 at SeaWorld San Diego. Very little is known about her.

## Early Life & Capture

Kakela was born in the waters of the North Atlantic sometime around late 1977 or early 1978. On October 17th, 1978, she was captured off the coast of Skaftárós, Iceland, along with Katina and an unnamed male. The three whales were loaded onto the *Guðrún*, an Icelandic herring boat that was used to capture killer whales. The following day they arrived at a sea pen in Grindavík Harbor. There they met 3 other recently captured whales, Kotar, Kahana and Kasatka.  At some point after her capture, she was given the temporary name of “Shawn”.

## Life at SeaWorld

On October 24th, 1978, Kakela, Kahana, Kasatka, and Kotar were loaded onto a Boeing 727 and flown to America. The plane briefly landed in Florida where Kahana was unloaded and taken to SeaWorld Orlando. The plane took off again not long after, and the 3 remaining whales were on their way to SeaWorld San Diego. They finally arrived in California about 2 days after first leaving Iceland.

Sometime after being purchased by SeaWorld, she was renamed to “Kakela”.

Upon their arrival at SeaWorld the 3 whales were likely introduced to the park's resident whales, Canuck II, Kandu V, Kenau and Winston. Kakela may have spent some time in the orca petting pool with Kotar, Kasatka and Canuck. Kandu may have lived in the petting pool as well.  If she was kept in the petting pools then she would have lived with several different smaller species of cetaceans, such as bottlenose dolphins, pilot whales, belugas, false killer whales and Pacific white-sided dolphins.  In April of 1979, Kandu and Kenau were moved out of the park. Very little is known about Kakela’s time at SeaWorld.

## Death

In late August of 1979, Kakela stopped eating and began to act lethargic. Although she received treatment, her condition worsened. On the morning of September 3rd, less than a year after her capture, she passed away. A necropsy revealed that her cause of death was acute bacterial pneumonia. The necropsy also revealed that she was suffering from a moderate tapeworm infection at the time of her death.

## Legacy

Kakela's name was believed to be *Shawn* by the wider cetacean community for over four decades, and it wasn't until early October of 2023 that her real name, Kakela, was discovered.

## Transfer History

Kakela’s Transfer History
 Capture Boat (Guðrún), Iceland
 Grindavik Harbor Sea Pen, Iceland
 Boeing 747 (Transport Container)

## References

1. ↑ "Háhyrningarnir eru orðnir sex"
2. ↑ *MARC ANDERSON, KELLY NELSON, and JULIETTE MORIZUR v. SEAWORLD PARKS AND ENTERTAINMENT, INC.*
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Cetacean Cousins: Captive Orca - Shawn's Profile
4. ↑ *Dolphins: Our Friends in the Sea*
5. ↑ "Necropsy - Killer Whale Shawn"
6. ↑ "so it turns out that(...)" by anonymous user on Twitter, 10/11/2023