Shawn II

Shawn II, English translation for Xiàoēn(Shawn) and commonly known as Sean/Shawn, is a 11 year old male Russian transient killer whale who lives at Shanghai Haichang Ocean Park. He was captured in the summer of 2015 in the Sea of Okhotsk, Russia.

## Naming

### Also Known As

* Flash
* Goren
* Sean
* Shanghai Male 2
* Shanghai Male
* Shawn
* Xiàoēn
* Young Male
* Unknown Male Orca
* Unnamed (Shanghai) Male

## Transfer History

### Transfer #2

2016 - TINRO to Dalian Laohutan Ocean Park.

### Transfer #3

November of 2018 - Dalian Laohutan Ocean Park to Shanghai Haichang Ocean Park.

## Capture

Shawn's capture date is believed to be 2015, although this is unconfirmed. After his capture, Shawn was moved to TINRO where he met Pànghǔ and Cookie, who were presumably captured together. It is not known if Shawn was caught before or after them, and possibly came from an already captured pod due to his physical appearance similarities to Nord(who was captured in 2013 along with Nukka and Tyson). Photos of the three suggests that Dora was captured in late 2015(after them). All of the whales were sold to Shanghai Haichang Ocean Park and sent to another facility owned by the company known as Dalian Laohutan Ocean Park. Here, Shawn learned basic training before he could perform in the company's show pool at Shanghai, which was still under development at the time.

## To Shanghai

Shawn was shipped to the main park in November 2018 and it opened later that month. He currently lives with the other 3 other orcas he met, and is often paired with Cookie or Pànghǔ.

He was later nicknamed Flash, or more commonly "Goren" by the French orca community. It was originally thought these names came from the park however this was later found to be false. Shawn's name had the longest unconfirmed time span out of the other whales at the park, until an article later mentioned the name Shawn. His official name is Shawn II, due to there having been a previous captive orca by the same name.

Shows were, at one point, stopped in September of 2021 because Cookie gave birth to her first calf, later named Cody. As of yet, Shawn has not met Cody, though multiple rumors have previously stated that he was briefly paired with Cody in 2022. In early February of 2023, China Cetacean Alliance announced that Cody and "another male"(likely Shawn) would be transferring to Zhengzhou Haichang Ocean Park when it is complete in 2024.

## Personality and Appearance

Shawn is noticeable because of his many rake marks, placing him at the bottom of the hierarchy pyramid. His left eye patch is more "mad" looking, which is uncommon amongst Russian whales. He has started "sprouting"(the growth of his pecs and dorsal), and will likely become one of the largest captive killer whales when he is older. Shawn is a very quiet whale, however he does well in shows, especially by himself. He is typically only paired with Pànghǔ or by himself, though occasionally all of the 4 original whales will appear together.

## Gallery

**If you are going to use any of these photos, please credit the photographer and/or the provider. *PLEASE REFER BACK TO THIS WIKI. NOT ALL PHOTOS CAN BE USED!!***

Many photos can be found from Inherently Wild.

**Photos from Weibo via Google Photos, provided by Katerina Studios.**

**Photo by @sandyang755 on Weibo, provided by Katerina Studios.**

**Photo by 芋艿奈奈子, provided by csartie.**

## Videos/GIFs

**Footage via Weibo, provided by Katerina Studios.**