Subic marine park’s whale dies

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT, Philippines – The last of the six false killer whales at Ocean Adventure Marine Park (OAMP) here has died, a water park executive announced on Thursday.

Eighteen-year-old Tonka succumbed to an inoperable bowel disorder “despite best medical efforts and 24-hour-care,” said OAMP executive vice president Gail Laule.

Imported in 2001, Tonka became one of the major attractions at the marine park.

“Tonka was rescued in 1996 from the Japanese drive fishery, a tightly regulated program to control wild populations of whales and dolphins to protect Japanese coastal fish stocks,” Laule said.

Ocean Adventure had four species of cetaceans: false killer whale, bottlenose dolphin, rough-toothed dolphin and spotted dolphin.

Laule said Tonka and the other marine mammals at Ocean Adventure are the core of a strong educational and conservation agenda.  All shows include natural history information, direct conservation and animal welfare messaging.

“Tonka won the hearts of millions of visitors and schoolchildren and helped educate and motivate them to protect the oceans and the animals that inhabit them,” she said.

Animal rights groups have renewed their call for the closure of the marine water park following Tonka’s death.

The Earth Island Institute and Philippine Animal Welfare Society said they would hold a picket in front of the Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Animal Industry in Quezon City to protest Ocean Adventure operations in the wake of Tonka’s death.

Tonka is the sixth dolphin to die in captivity in the country. Five other dolphins – Sonny, Deuce, Coral, Hook and Pounder – died in 2001, 2004, 2005 and 2008, respectively.