Cuddles

Cuddles. Photo provided by HaH.

Cuddles (*pronounced KUH-dlz*) was an approximately 7-year-old male Southern Resident killer whale who lived at the Dudley Zoo. Cuddles was the first captive killer whale in England, and the first killer whale to fly across the Atlantic. He was captured on October 5th, 1968 from Yukon Harbor in Washington at approximately 2 years old. Cuddles passed away due to a burst abscess and broken rib on February 6th, 1974 at the Dudley Zoo. He was involved in some of the first research into the artificial insemination of killer whales.

## Capture and Early Life

Cuddles was a Southern Resident either from J Pod or L Pod who was born sometime around 1966. On October 5th, 1968, 25 killer whales were netted in Yukon Harbor. J1 “Ruffles” was also captured, but he was released with the others. This was the largest killer whale capture at the time. Cuddles, along with Haida, Ahab, Ishmael, and Mamuk, were taken into captivity. After spending a few days in a sea pen, all five whales were moved to the Seattle Marine Aquarium. At this time, Cuddles was believed to be a female.

## Life at Flamingo Park

In November of 1968, a few weeks after his capture, Cuddles was shipped from Seattle to Flamingo Park (now known as Flamingo Land) in London.  The journey took 36 hours in total. Upon arriving at Flamingo Park, Cuddles was discovered to be a male, and was housed with two bottlenose dolphins and taught a range of tricks. He suffered from several minor health problems during his stay, but all were successfully treated. Cuddles started to become aggressive towards his trainers by October of 1969, and he attacked them at least twice. This forced keepers to clean his tank from inside a shark cage.

## Life at the Dudley Zoo

In May of 1971, Cuddles was moved from Flamingo Park to the Dudley Zoo.  In early 1973, vandals broke into the Dudley Zoo and threw bricks, rocks, and a 12 foot long spear at Cuddles. Cuddles escaped uninjured.  Later that year, the local government told the Dudley Zoo that they had broken a building regulation when modifying a pool for Cuddles and they wanted the zoo to return the pool to its original depth. This would have cost too much for the Dudley Zoo, so Cuddles was put up for sale. It was hoped that they would send Cuddles to a marine park in France, but when no one purchased him, the zoo considered putting him into a small storage pool.

## Death

On the night of February 6th, 1974, Cuddles died. A veterinary examination showed that the cause of death was a burst abscess near the heart. Cuddles also broke a rib during a training accident and the wound became infected which was shown to be apart of his death.  After Cuddles' death, the pool he lived in was returned to its original size. Today, it houses sea lions.

## Behavioral Incidents

A few months after he arrived, Cuddles attacked the zoo's managing director Donald Robinson, dragging him to the bottom of the pool. Robinson was pulled out with head and leg injuries.  There was another incident in 1972 in which Cuddles sent trainer Roy Lock to the hospital with a broken nose. Cuddles was meant to give Lock a 'kiss', but he rammed his head into Lock's too forcefully.

## Galleries

* **Photos** of Cuddles
* **Videos** of Cuddles

## Transfer History

Cuddles' Transfer History
 Yukon Harbor Sea Pen, Washington
 Seattle Marine Aquarium, Washington
 Flamingo Park Zoo, England

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 'Killer Whales at Flamingo Park, and Cleethorpes Marineland and Zoo'
2. ↑ "A Whale of a Job"
3. ↑ Edward R. Ricciuti, *Killers of the Sea*
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "Dudley Zoo Throwback Thursday"
5. ↑ "Whale Escapes Injury"
6. ↑ "Zoo Trying to Sell Whale"
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Zoo's Killer Whale Cuddles is Dead"
8. ↑ (1972) "Cuddly Kiss"