Kandu II - orca
Gender: Male
Pod: Southern Residents (L pod)
Place of capture: Penn Cove, Washington State
Date of capture: August 1971
Age at capture: Approx. 3 years
History
In August 1971, a group of 3 Orcas were captured off Penn Cove; one male and two females.
The male, later known as Kandu II, was first purchased by the Florida Delphin Show in Bremen, Germany and kept there for 20 days before being sold to Marineland Canada.
Kandu II arrived at the park in September 1971, and was the first orca to be put on display at Marineland. It was not long until he was trained and performing in shows alongside the parks Bottlenose Dolphins.
He remained alone at the park until 1973, when a female named Kandy arrived at the park. Both appeared to get along well, but Kandy died about a month after her arrival. In 1975, two more whales were purchased; Knootka and Kanduke.
Kandu II and Knootka went on to perform alongside each other for several years. The three whales briefly received a new tank mate known as Katina before she was sold to SeaWorld. Today she resides at SeaWorld Orlando.
Unfortunately, Kandu II died after contracting pneumonia in October 1979.