Third Killer Whale Death In Six Months At Seaworld San Antonio

A killer whale has died at the SeaWorld park in San Antonio, sparking fresh criticism of the conditions under which the animals are kept in the popular tourist attractions.

Third Killer Whale Death In Six Months At Seaworld San Antonio

The whale, an 18-year-old female called Unna, was the third to die at the Texas park in six months.

The park has attributed the death to a “resistant strain of a fungus called Candida” and said experts around the country had treated the whale and though it seemed at one point she might recover this was not to be.

SeaWorld has faced a major backlash in the last few years from animal activist groups who claim the confinement of the exceptionally intelligent animals, as well as the circus show they are forced to perform in, is inherently cruel.

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The backlash grew ever more vociferate with the release of 2013 documentary Blackfish, which launched a major attack on Seaworld’s practices.

Seaworld refuted the documentary’s claims and, bar its San Diego park, continues to have the animals perform in the live show.