Chimo - orca

Sex: Female

Pod: Pacific Transients

Place of capture: Pedder Bay, British Columbia, Canada

Date of capture: March 1, 1970

Age at capture: Approx. 2 years

A pod of 5 orcas were captured on March 1, 1970 in Pedder Bay. Among those was a young white female, later known as Chimo who was caught with her presumed mother, Scarredjaw Cow.

Immediately, numerous parks showed great interest in Chimo. Sealand of the Pacific ended up paying a large sum of money for Chimo and another female named Knootka.

On March 25, Chimo was separated from Scarredjaw. Both Chimo and Knootka went on to meet the resident bull, Haida, when they arrived at Sealand of the Pacific. In the beginning, all three whales seemed to get along well, but as time went on, Knootka began to harrass Chimo.

As a factor of both stress and the aggressive actions of Knootka, Chimo became ill with several skin diseases. It was soon decided that Knootka had to go, leaving Chimo and Haida alone at Sealand. It was hoped that the two would mate and produce offspring when Chimo reached sexual maturity.

However, in October 1972, she developed both Pneumonia and Streptococcal Septicemia. Chimo also suffered from Chédiak–Higashi Syndrome, which causes partial albinism, peripheral neuropathy, and recurrent pyogenic infections.

Chimo died on November 2, 1972 due to her infections caused by C–HS.