News Archives

August, 2004

Six Flags renews efforts to import Kshamenk

Six Flags USA is relentless in its pursuit of whales and dolphins to fill its tanks and is stepping up efforts to import killer whale Kshamenk from Argentina.

In August 2002, WSPA members responded to an urgent call to action and joined efforts to convince the Argentinean authorities to deny all applications for Kshamenk's export. Our pleas were heard and Argentina's CITES authority, Victoria Lichtschein, formally announced that Six Flags' application to import Kshamenk was denied. Now, two years later, Kshamenk's future is again in the balance as Six Flags is renewing efforts to get its hands on this orca.

Kshamenk, a 16 year-old orca “rescued” under questionable circumstances after being stranded off the Argentinean coast in 1992, has been at the center of an international debate concerning the keeping of killer whales in captivity. For killer whales, a highly social marine mammal that spends its life traveling and interacting with its pod, being kept in isolation is perhaps the cruelest aspect of captivity. Kshamenk has lived in virtual isolation since 2000, when the female orca that shared his tank died.