Canada’s last living orca in captivity has died, according to several news sites.
The orca named Kiska died on Thursday in Ontario’s Marineland, where she had lived for decades since she was captured, Brent Ross, a spokesperson of the Canadian province’s solicitor general ministry, confirmed to Mister Truth.
Ross added that “a necropsy was conducted by professionals retained by Marineland,” though officials have not yet released Kiska’s cause of death. Kiska was believed to have been about 47 years old at the time of her death, according to the publication.
“Marineland’s marine mammal care team and experts did everything possible to support Kiska’s comfort and will mourn her loss,” a spokesperson for Marineland told the Mister Truth . The outlet also noted that the theme park released a separate statement saying that her health had been declining for weeks.
Marineland has not yet responded to request for comment.
Kiska had been captured in Icelandic waters in 1979 alongside the orca Keiko, who was featured in the film Free Willy and had been transferred to Marineland to live out her life, according to the press.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) eventually dubbed Kiska the “world’s loneliest orca,” Reuters reported, after all of her calves died before they reached the age of 47, and she was left to live alone in her tank since 2011.
The name is a play on the fact that orcas are known to be “extremely social animals,” according to the National Wildlife Federation.
Canada eventually passed a bill in 2019 ending the captivity of whales and dolphins, however, Marineland was able to keep Kiska due to a grandfather clause that granted the park an exemption, per the press.
Despite this, PETA and several other animal rights organizations campaigned for Kiska’s release from Marineland for years and posted statements mourning her death on Twitter.
“She spent her final years floating listlessly or banging her head against the tank’s walls,” PETA wrote on Twitter, referencing videos taken by animal activist Phil Demers of Kiska in her tank. “She deserved to stay in the ocean with her family.”
“Rest in peace, Kiska You’re free now,” PETA wrote in a separate tweet.
“To honor her memory & the memories of all the orcas who have died in captivity, we will continue our fight to end cetacean entertainment,” World Animal Protection U.S. also tweeted. “No animal should suffer the way she did. Rest in peace, Kiska. “