Finna - orca

Sex: Male

Place of capture: Selvogsbanki, Iceland

Date of capture: November 19, 1980

Age at capture: Approx. 3 years

On November 19, 1980, two young orcas were captured in Icelandic waters. They were immediately transferred to the Hafnarfjordur Aquarium where they met 3 other whales.

Bjossa, Finna, Vigga, and Benkei II were soon purchased by the Vancouver Aquarium, who already had an adult male named Hyak II. However, Vigga and Benkei II spent less than 6 months at the park, leaving Bjossa, Hyak II, and Finna alone.

Originally thought to be female, Finna was kept solely because of this mistake, though there is no record of aggression between him and Hyak II.

Bjossa soon became pregnant by Hyak II on two separate occasions, however the first calf only survived 22 days, while K’yosha, the second calf, survived for 3 months. Unfortunately, Hyak II also died on February 16, 1991, leaving just Bjossa and Finna.

Trainers hoped Finna and Bjossa would mate and produce a healthy calf. When Finna did reach sexual maturity, he impregnated Bjossa who gave birth to her third calf on March 8, 1995 to a crowd of people anxious to catch a glimpse of the new baby. However, the calf lived for just a few minutes after it’s birth before sinking to the bottom of the tank. Van Aqua soon made plans to sell Finna to make room for a female companion to Bjossa.

Though plans changed after Finna’s sudden death on October 6, 1997 due to pneumonia and an infection.