Caren - orca

Sex: Female

Place of Capture: Ingólfshöfði, Iceland

Date of Capture: November 1979

Age at Capture: Approx. 2 years

Sometime in November 1979, a group of 4 orcas were captured off the southeast coast of Iceland. They were immediately transferred to the Hafnarfjordur Aquarium where their health was assessed, genders determined, though only 3 were named; King, Keiko, and Caren.

While King was sent to Germany, the remaining 3 whales were sent to Marineland Canada. Not long after their move, Marineland sold Caren and the unnamed female to Kamogawa Sea World. However, the female died before they could be moved, so the transfer was delayed while Kamogawa searched for a second whale. They soon replaced the female with King, and the two were finally transferred to Kamogawa in February 1980.

The pair became very popular almost immediately, as keeping orcas captive in Japan was still relatively new at the time. King and Caren got along well and spent most of their time together.

Unfortunately, Caren was left alone when King died on October 4, 1983. It wasn’t until November 1985 when Caren met two new orcas; Patty and Bingo.

Finally, on May 4, 1987, Caren died due to Agranulocytosis, in which the bone marrow fails to create enough white blood cells, resulting in a lowered white blood cell count (leukopenia).