Sealand of the Pacific

Photo provided by Ocean Echoes.

Sealand of the Pacific was a public aquarium that operated to Oak Bay Marina near Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. They opened on May 15th, 1969  and closed in November of 1992 after trainer Keltie Byrne was killed during a killer whale show. Sealand kept a total of 12 different killer whales while they were open and 2 killer whales were born there. Besides orcas, they also displayed sea lions, harbor seals, tufted puffins,  salmon, wolf eels, perch, sharks, and many other animals.  Sealand also kept an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin named Chloe and at least one Pacific white-sided dolphin in their early years.  Sealand was featured in the 2013 documentary  *Blackfish*.

## Founding and Early History

   Sealand was opened in 1969, owned and founded by Bob Wright. Their main attraction was their killer whale Haida. The aquarium quickly became popular, drawing in thousands of visitors over the next year. Haida was curious and a quick learner.

## Display of Killer Whales

   In 1971, Nootka was transferred to Japanese Deer Park, leaving only Haida and Chimo at Sealand. Due to the disorder that caused Chimo's albinism, he health was poor, and she passed away in 1972. Haida was "ill and lonely" after her death, and refused to eat. In 1973, Haida was introduced to Nootka II, but she was much older than him and the two didn't get along. Nootka II passed away the following year. In 1975, Sealand acquired a new whale, Nootka III. Unfortunately, she too passed away only a year later. Haida was alone until 1978 when the park brought in a rescued whale named Miracle. Although the two were kept separate, they would frequently call out and talk to each other. In 1982, Miracle got caught in the net of her pen and drowned.

   Wright wanted more whales, but Haida had seemed uninterested in any of the females he had met, and he was getting older. Wright proposed a plan to rehabilitate and release Haida back into the wild in exchange for allowance to capture two new whales. They even did acoustic analysis to locate his pod, which turned out to be L pod. He was met with lots of public outcry, however, and there was resistance from the government. His permit to release Haida expired in early October of 1982, and Haida died just a few days later.

No longer allowed to capture whales from the wild in Canada, Sealand looked to Europe. Sealand purchased three new whales from Iceland the following year: Haida II, Nootka IV, and an unnamed male. Less than a month later, however, the male bled to death from an open wound. It was discovered after his death that he had hemophilia, a genetic condition that kept his blood from clotting properly.  A year and a half later Sealand purchased another male, Tilikum, also from Iceland. Haida II and Nootka IV could be violent with him at times, and he was often bullied by the two females. He was forced to spend lots of time in the small medical pool, hiding from the other killer whales.

### Keltie Byrne's Death

On February 20th, 1991, Keltie Byrne, a 21-year-old killer whale trainer and marine biology student, slipped and fell into the killer whale pool after a show. Despite the efforts of the other trainers to save her, Tilikum, Haida II, and Nootka IV repeatedly dragged and submerged her until she drowned. The fact that the whales at Sealand had never been desensitized to trainers in the water, their poor relations with each other, and the pregnancies of both females likely contributed to their aggression.

### Killer Whale Births

On December 24, 1991, Haida II gave birth to Kyuquot. He was the first killer whale to be born at Sealand of the Pacific. A few weeks later, Nootka IV gave birth to a male calf. Although Kyuquot survived, Nootka IV's calf passed away only a month later. Haida II was possessive over Kyuquot and violent towards Tilikum. During this time, Tilikum was kept separated in the medical pool.

## Closing

   Shortly after Kyuquot's birth, SeaWorld applied for an emergency permit to take Tilikum to one of their parks. They argued that spending too long in the small medical pool would cause serious health and welfare issues. The permit was approved shortly after. Tilikum was moved from Sealand to SeaWorld in Orlando on January 7th, 1992.

Only a year and a half after Byrne's death, in November 1992, Sealand closed. The remaining whales were sold to SeaWorld, and moved out in January of the following year. Nootka IV was reunited with Tilikum in SeaWorld Orlando on January 7th, 1993, while Haida II and her son were sent to SeaWorld San Antonio on January 8th, 1993.

## Incidents

Keltie Byrne's death was not the only incident of killer whale aggression at Sealand. In 1989, Nootka IV was involved in two separate incidents with trainers. In March of that year, Trainer Henriette Huber was scratching Nootka's tongue when the whale closed her mouth onto her hand. The trainer fell into the pool and later required several stitches. In another instance, Nootka grabbed a tourist's camera. Head trainer Steve Huxter grabbed the camera strap and was pulled in. Nootka grabbed his leg while another trainer pulled him out of the water.

Several animals drowned in the nets making up their pen while Sealand was in operation. Miracle was known to pull at the edges of the net, creating dangerous holes. Everytime she tore open holes divers would enter the pen to repair it, and she would play with them. Shadow, a seal, drowned in the pen that he shared with Miracle. One morning, Miracle was found dead. Although she likely drowned in one of the holes that she created, many people believe that she may have been killed in a botched "rescue" attempt by animal activists.  Evidence from police, however, suggests that it was just poor design and neglect on the part of Sealand that caused her death, and not foul play.

## Layout

Sealand was a floating structure in Oak Bay. It had at least three main animal display areas: The killer whale pools, the California sea lion pools, and the harbor seal pools.

The main killer whale pool was renovated and redesigned many times. In 1992, the main killer whale pool was 70 feet wide and 100 feet long. The second killer whale pool, referred to as the "medical pool" or "medical module", was an indoor pool on the Northeast side of the main pool. It was built shortly after Haida and Miracle's deaths. The medical pool was 31 feet long, 23 feet wide, and 12 feet deep.

## References

1. ↑ "Gone Fishin' Sign Leads to Waterfront Complex"
2. ↑ "Sealand was much more than killer whales, says ex-employee"
3. ↑ "FOLLOW THIS VICTORIA ENTERRTAINMENT GUIDE"
4. ↑ "Jumping Taught on Porpoise To Expand Whale of a Show"
5. ↑ *Orca: How We Came to Know and Love the Ocean's Greatest Predator*
6. ↑ "Killer whale dies"
7. ↑ "Who Killed Miracle?"
8. ↑ "Sealand of the Pacific – Death in the Whale Pool?"
9. ↑ "Tillikum At Sealand, 1992" on YouTube