Just for anyone wondering, the region's last Pacific Harbour Seal, Oggie is still alive and well at Sea World Gold Coast at he approaches his mid 30s. I recently did my annual confirmation email on how he is going and got this response: "Oggie is still alive and thriving at Seal Harbour. He is continuing to learn some amazing behaviours, socialise with many other seals and be enriched daily."
A male Australian Sea Lion, Torre has moved to Sea World Gold Coast. He was born at Taronga Zoo a few years ago and arrived three months ago: Sea World - Gold Coast, Australia
A juvenile False Killer Whale was found beached today and was transferred to Sea World Gold Coast where it is currently residing. After several unsuccessful attempts to release it into deeper water, the animal was moved into care to determine any underlying health issues. Information from the local news.
Time to start a False Killer Whale in Australasia Population Thread! (Jokes). Seriously though, I hope they’re able to determine the cause and it leads to a positive outcome. This species typically mass strands, so I’m tempted to believe it’s a medical issue.
A further update on the female False Killer Whale. She survived the night and remains in a stable condition in waist-deep water requiring constant monitoring: Log into Facebook | Facebook
The calf being quite young is a worry (it's only around a year old), when considering it being released; especially adding to the fact that they haven't found the calf's pod yet. False Killer Whales in the past have been known to strand when there is a health issue present, and this may be the case again here. Hopefully they can discover the cause and in the end find the best option for this young female!
Didn't sea world have false killer whales? I think they may have had a hybrid false killer whale-dolphin too at one stage.
The former Marine-land next to Seaworld use to have a couple at different times one was called squirt
Squirt was a resident there during the 80’s according to online comments. Cartoon versions of him were used to promote the park according to online message boards. This TV ad from 1984 shows him at 0.20 and 0.54 seconds:
MarineLand used to hold a whole heap of interesting cetaceans in the past including False Killer Whales, and even Orcas at one point. Keith Williams, the Seaworld founder actually bought MarineLand in 1976, and moved all the former MarineLand individuals to Seaworld, which is where I believe they got their False Killer Whales from.
They had two Orca. The first was Ramu II: Ramu II Ramu II was captured in Carr Inlet, Washington in March of 1969. In March of 1970, Ramu II was moved to Marineland Australia. The 7,500 mile journey was the furthest any killer whale had ever been transported. He became the first killer whale in captivity in the southern hemisphere. Ramu wasn’t able to adjust to living in the climate of Australia and had chronic health issues. On May 21st, 1970, Ramu passed away from a bleeding gastric ulcer. A second Orca named Ramu IV arrived in July 1970 and died the following year: Marineland Australia's History
I think the climate primarily did them in. There was no capacity to temperature control the water, which combined with the climate wasn’t ideal. While Orca live in water between zero degrees to tropical, they prefer cooler waters - averaging single digits. I’m glad after two attempts to house Orca in Australia, they realised it wouldn’t be feasible at that point of time (if only for the expense of importing something that wasn’t going to live long) and discontinued with them.
I believe there are at least two known orca pods that work the east coast of Australia even the warmer waters to the north
Yep, we even get transient pods in New Zealand. They come into the harbours to hunt stingray they’ve corralled into shallower water. Some of my friends have been lucky enough to see them while out kayaking!
MarineLand had two male orcas (Ramu II and Ramu IV), but both died after their first year. Keep in mind Ramu II was nine at the age of his capture, meaning it would've been harder for him to settle into captivity after quite some time in the ocean. The climate may have contributed, although all the Seaworld's in the US are in cities like the Gold Coast, weather wise, and they didn't have any adverse affects such as consistent deaths. It would've most likely had something to do with the facilities they had at the time. Like @Zorro said, there was only a small pool which they shared with multiple dolphins.
Transient Orcas have been known to frequent the west coast, although i've never heard anything about the east coast. They usually have False Killer Whales and Bottlenoses on that side.
Ramu II died of a gastric ulcer. The primary causes are bacterial infection by Helicobacter sp., parasitic infections, high dietary histamine, foreign body ingestion, and stress. The stress of being removed from his pod, undertaking the furthest transit of any captive Orca and living in a small pool likely all contributed.
