Bare Facts: Female ~ Born est.1964 ~ Captured 1969 ~ Mother Stripe ~ Father Unknown ~ Children 1977 calf, Spooky, Stillborn, Kiva, 1985 calf, Miscarriage, Miscarriage ~ ID Tall, straight, unbending fin; eyepatches have sharp points on them; huge

A16 was born around 1964, almost certainly to Stripe (A23). She traveled with her mom and her grandmother, A7, a small group inside the larger, extended family of the A5 pod. When she was three, Stripe gave birth to another calf, A21. A16 had a new playmate!
Then, on December 11, 1969, A16 and her entire family was captured in nets in a harbour. A16 was separated from her family and lifted out of the water, crying loudly. She was transported far away, and while her mother, A21, and her grandmother swam back into freedom, she was placed in a tank at Marineland California.
Four others whales were captured the same day. Yaka, Nepo, and Calypso were shipped off to other parks. A young male orca, and a young whale named Patches, went with A16 to their new home.
At Marineland California, they joined two other whales that had been captured already, Corky, and Orky2. All five whales were almost certainly related.
For 11 months, A16 didn't have a name. Then, the female whale Corky died. Trainers named A16 Corky2. From now on, I'll just be calling her Corky.
For a year and a half, Corky, Orky(2), Patches and the still unnamed whale lived together at Marineland's small tank. Then Patches died, and a year later, the unnamed whale passed away as well. Corky and Orky were alone.
On February 28, 1977, when Corky was 13 years old, she suddenly and unexpectedly gave birth to a small calf! No one had even known she was pregnant. When trainers discovered the calf, they raced out yelling. Orky assisted the birth. This was the first time a calf had ever been conceived and born alive in captivity.
Sadly, the calf refused to nurse, even when trainers drained the tank. On March 16 of the same year, the calf, only 18 days old, died of pneumonia.
Corky became quite depressed when the calf died. She became listless, which was unusual because usually she was a very active, restless whale. But then Orky sang to her and she seemed to 'wake up'.
On October 31, 1978, Corky gave birth again. Trainers nicknamed the little whale Spooky, because he was born on Halloween. Tragically, Spooky couldn't nurse either, and he died 11 days later.
On April Fools' Day, 1980, Corky had a stillborn calf.
Then, on June 18, 1982, Corky gave birth to a little female calf named Kiva. The beautiful little girl also couldn't nurse, despite the fact that Corky had been trained with a rubber model to nurse her calves beforehand.
The problem was the shape of the tank. It was too small with too many corners. When an orca calf is first born, it can't turn yet. Corky had to constantly stick her face in front of the calves so that they wouldn't crash into the walls. Unfortunately, instinct tells the calves to focus in on the white patch on their mother's bellies, because that's where they nurse. But since Corky had to block their way with her face, they focused in on her eyepatch, and tried to nurse there.
Corky really tried to help her calves. She could have been a great mother. With Kiva, she remembered her training and rolled over to let the calf nurse. But it was too late-Kiva had already focused in on her eye patch.
46 days after Kiva was born, Corky and Orky drowned her at the bottom of the pool. Kiva would be the longest lived of all Corky's calves.
On July 22, 1985, Corky gave birth to her fifth calf, a female. She died on September 1.
The 1985 calf would be her last. On July 27, 1986, Corky miscarried.
On January 22, 1987, Marineland California was sold to SeaWorld California. Despite the fact that SeaWorld promised not to move the orcas, in the dead of night, Corky and Orky were transported to SeaWorld California. Corky arrived pregnant, and on July 27, she miscarried, and her last pregnancy was over.
Orky died the next year, after fathering a calf with another whale named Kandu5. The calf was named Orkid-a name meaning Orky's Kid.
Then when Orkid was a year old, something awful happened. Kandu5 hadn't gotten along with Corky at all. During a show one day, Kandu5 charged at Corky. Corky was unhurt, but Kandu fractured her jaw and severed an artery. She bled to death in front of the horrified crowd. In a weird twist of fate, Corky adopted Orkid and raised her. At last she had a calf to take care of!
Corky has proved herself to be a very motherly and caring orca. She not only adopted Orkid, but became surrogate mother to Splash, a young epileptic whale who died recently, Sumar, a young whale harassed by his mother, and Keet, who was separated from his mother at an early age. Corky gets along with all the other whales, except the big male Ulises. She used to get along with him, but now they can't be together because Ulises attacks her. The dominant female, Kasatka, protects Corky, but it's safer to keep them apart.
There is a Free Corky campaign run by OrcaLab. Because we know exactly who Corky's family is, there is a very good chance they would take her back. On the other hand, she is blind in one eye, and all her teeth have been worn down, which would make it difficult for her to survive in the wild. Besides this, all whales in her closest family who would remember her have died. Calls from Corky's family were played to her once, and she began to noticeably shake.
Corky is now around 41 years old and one of the two oldest captive orcas. She is blind in one eye, but she is a great performer and a very gentle whale. She looks out for the other orcas and she's usually the whale new trainers are first assigned to.