Keto - orca

Sex: Male

Place of birth: Born at SeaWorld of Florida

Date of birth: June 17, 1995

Captive at: Loro Parque Tenerife, Spain

On June 17, 1995 captive born female Kalina gave birth to her second calf at just 9 years old at SeaWorld Orlando. The calf was a male named Keto sired by the Icelandic male Kotar.

However, Keto only stayed at the Orlando park for little more than 3 years before being transferred to the San Diego park in 1999 where he met his older brother, Keet. In April of 2000, Keto was moved again to the park in Aurora, Ohio with his brother Keet and another male named Sumar.

Keto was moved once again in February of 2001 to the San Antonio park where he grew very close to the female named Kayla, and would reportedly fight with a male named Kyuquot over her. He was reunited with his brother Keet in 2004, but in February of 2006, Keto and 3 other young whales were transferred to Loro Parque in Spain. The four were sent on a breeding loan and therefore are owned by SeaWorld; though they were scrutinized for the move, as Keto, Kohana, Tekoa, and Skyla are all related.

The combination of these relatively young whales also presented a problem in terms of social structure, as the group lacked a dominant matriarch and still does. This has led to aggression issues between the whales, and sometimes aggression towards trainers. However, Keto had already been displaying issues with trainers before his move to Loro Parque.

In September of 1998 he pushed his trainer around the pool, open mouthed, and swam into another trainer open mouthed in both March of 1999 and August 2002, as well as snapping at his trainer during a training session in December 1999. Keto’s aggression seemed to escalate, however, on December 24, 2009.

During a 10:30am training session for the Christmas Special, 29 year old trainer Alexis Martínez was struck and killed by Keto. At first, it was said that Alexis had drowned due to being unconscious and held underwater for several minutes. The autopsy revealed that Alexis’ death was actually more violent, and went on to state that he suffered multiple cuts and bruises, the collapse of both lungs, fractures to the ribs and sternum, a lacerated liver, severely damaged vital organs, and puncture marks consistent with the teeth of an orca.

The autopsy concluded that the immediate cause of death was drowning due to fluid in the lungs, but that the fundamental cause was “mechanical asphyxiation due to compression and crushing of the thoracic abdomen with injuries to the vital organs”, meaning that Keto had to have slammed into Alexis with enough force to cause Alexis’ chest to cave in.

Eerily enough, Alexis’ death occurred exactly two months prior to the death of senior SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau who was killed on February 24, 2010 by the Icelandic male Tilikum. Being a SeaWorld trainer, Dawn’s death seemed to get much more publicity than Alexis’ death, and the incident between Alexis and Keto was quickly swept under the rug for the most part.

In October 2010, Kohana gave birth to the first calf to be conceived at Loro Parque. The calf, known as Adán, was sired by Keto who is Kohana’s uncle. Kohana rejected Adán due to her never learning proper mothering skills, requiring staff to bottle feed Adán instead.

In 2012, Kohana gave birth to hers and Keto’s second calf, a female named Victoria, or Vicky for short. Once again, Kohana rejected her calf, forcing staff to separate the pair and bottle feed her. Unfortunately, Vicky died at just 10 months old.