Splash

Splash. Photo provided by InherentlyWild.

- 5,500 (2004)

- 6,500 (2005)

### Siblings

*Neocia*, *Malik*, *Nootka V's Calf (1998)*, *Algonquin*, *Nootka V's Miscarriage (2001)*, *Nootka V's Calf (2004)*, *Nootka V's Miscarriage (2006)*

### Half-Siblings

*Kiska's Calf (1992)*, *Kanuck*, *Nova*, *Hudson*, *Neocia's Miscarriage (2004)*, *Athena*

### Nieces & Nephews

*Neocia's Miscarriage (2004)*

Splash (*pronounced SPLASH*), previously known as Katak (*pronounced kah-TAK*), was a 15-year-old male Icelandic killer whale that suffered from epilepsy. He was born at Marineland of Canada on August 15th, 1989. His mother was Nootka V and his father was Kandu VII. Splash passed away at SeaWorld San Diego, California on April 5th, 2005, from a perforated stomach.

## Birth and Early Life

On August 15th in 1989, a male killer whale was born to Nootka V and Kandu VII. He made history by being the first killer whale calf to be born at Marineland of Canada. Shortly after birth, the calf was given the name Katak. For the next two years, Katak bonded well with his mother. He was diagnosed with epilepsy at a young age, which was kept under control via medication. Despite this, Marineland made the decision to transfer Katak to SeaWorld San Diego for better care and further treatment when he was two years old. Around this time, Katak's name was officially changed to "Splash."

## Life at SeaWorld San Diego

Splash arrived at SeaWorld San Diego on April 17th, 1992. Upon arrival, he was introduced to Corky II, an older female, who immediately took to Splash and acted as a surrogate mother to the two year old. Splash was also introduced to another female killer whale, Orkid, who was a year older than him. Orkid and Splash formed a close bond with one another. At SeaWorld San Diego, Splash's epilepsy was being treated with phenobarbital. He was also treated for ulcers. Splash's former trainer reported that, on multiple occasions, he was observed ingesting large quantities of sand that found its way through the filtration systems.

During an epileptic seizure episode in 1995, Splash accidentally collided head-first with a gate sectioning off one of the pools. In the pool with him at the time were Orkid and Kasatka, who assisted Splash and held him at the surface throughout his seizure. As a result of this incident, his lower jaw was severely damaged and required surgical repairing. This incident left Splash's lower jaw permanently scarred and disfigured, and he could never close his mouth completely after the incident.

## Behavioral Incidents

Splash was involved in two reported incidents during his lifetime.

* Sometime in the late 1990s or early 2000s, Splash opened his mouth on a trainers leg.
* On August 7th, 2002, a female SeaWorld trainer was hospitalized with a broken arm after an incident at Shamu Stadium involving Splash and Orkid. Tamaree, a 28-year-old killer whale trainer, was interacting with Splash and Orkid at the poolside during a training session. "*She was playing with the whales, talking to them,*" said SeaWorld spokeswoman Darla Davis. "*The next thing we know, as it appears from the video, she was pulled into the water.*" The park retrieved footage from a poolside CCTV camera, and it also reviewed footage taken by a visitor. In the video, Tamaree can be seen exiting the water with a visibly broken arm.

## Death

On April 5th, 2005, Splash passed away. A necropsy found hundreds of pounds of filtration sand in his stomach. His official cause of death was reported as a perforated stomach (acute perforating gastric ulceration with associated peritonitis), which could have possibly been exacerbated by his chronic sand ingestion.

## Galleries

* **Photos** of Splash
* **Videos** of Splash

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 https://www.thedodo.com/the-life-and-death-of-splash-a-533538202.html
2. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gn1mstoBp0o
3. ↑ Shanna McCord, San Diego Union-Tribune, August 8, 2002.