Kona II - orca
Sex: Female
Pod: N/A
Place of capture: Ingólfshöfði, Iceland
Date of capture: October 12, 1977
Age at capture: Approx. 2 years
A group of 6 orcas were captured in Ingólfshöfði, Iceland on October 12, 1977; four females and two males. It is possible that they were transferred to the Hafnarfjordur Aquarium for a short time before being sent to Dolphinarium Harderwijk. Here, their health was assessed, genders were determined, and all 6 received names.
One female, Gudrun, was the only one to stay behind at the Dolphinarium, while the remaining 5 were sold by the end of the year. A young female named Kona II was sold to SeaWorld Orlando, where she met a male known as Ramu who had just lost his pod mate, Sandy. Both got along well and were later joined by a female named Kahana.
The three performed together until Ramu’s death in 1982 when SeaWorld San Diego sent another male named Kotar to replace Ramu in 1984. Kahana was also transferred to San Diego while they sent a pregnant Katina to the Orlando park in exchange.
Kona II and Katina appeared to get along very well, and supposedly taught Katina to nurse a calf properly during training sessions. After Katina gave birth to a female calf, later named Kalina, the calf reportedly became very close to Kona II and they often performed together.
In 1987, SeaWorld purchased a new breeding whale named Kanduke. Staff hoped that he would breed with both females, which he did and both females became pregnant.
On October 15, 1987, Kona II died due to a lung abscess. She was approximately 9 months along with her first calf at the time of her death.