Tonka, the last False Killer Whale at Ocean Adventure in Subic, is dead!

More than a decade and a half ago, Tonka was caught in the deadly dolphin drive hunts in Japan. He survived the most brutal dolphin hunting on the planet because he was bought to be trained as a performing animal. Years after his capture, Tonka and others like him had been confined to live in small pools and forced to perform for food.

Tonka arrived in the Philippines on January 2001 together with five other false killer whales. It is assumed that the whale Sunny died enroute to the Philippines. In only seven months of operation, Deuce, a juvenile male false killer whale dies in July 2001 at Ocean Adventure. Eight year old Coral, a female, followed in January 2004. Hook, a 13 year old whale died in July 2005 and Pounder died in 2010.

According to the marine mammal experts, False Killer Whales (Pseudorca crassidens) have an average lifespan of 58 years for males and 62 years for females.

False killer whales are not the only animals dying in Ocean Adventure. A total of five bottlenose dolphins have died in the facility since 2005 and one sealion in 2005.