The death of Ku (6.1 meters long, estimated 18 years old) was reported by The Chunichi, The Yomiuri, The Asahi, and The Mainichi as of September 19.
She was found dead at the bottom of the medical pool in the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium at 7:55 a.m. on September 19. When died, she weighed 2.7 tons (deduced 300 kilograms in recent two weeks.)
It was said that she caught a summer cold, but the newspapers reported that the herpes virus was found in the blood in the middle of July, inflammation was found in the body and on the skin, and the white blood corpuscle was increasing. She lost appetite around July 23, and refused to eat. She reportedly recovered a little in the beginning of September, but again has stopped eating for recent two weeks. The cause of death is now being inspected at Gifu University.
The Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium loaned her from the Taiji Whale Museum for breeding purposes in 2003. Its contract is to be expired in October this year. However, the contract of the "breeding loan" was already made between the Taiji Whale Museum and the Port of Nagoya Public Aquarium without approval of the Taiji Town Council, Mr. Yamashita, Taiji Town councilman, said. One has to wonder whether the death of Ku will advance the plan of capturing orcas in Taiji.

A 2½-year-old killer whale died Sunday night at SeaWorld San Antonio, becoming the second orca to die at the theme park in the past eight months. Early Monday, SeaWorld officials said the female killer whale named Halyn died unexpectedly. But SeaWorld spokeswoman Fran Stephenson said Monday evening that the whale had been under a 24-hour watch and was on two courses of treatment after her behavior changed earlier in the weekend. She said she didn't know what those changes were. Tissue samples from the whale will be examined to establish a cause of death, she said, but that will take about six weeks. "While we recognize that death is part of the life cycle, we are saddened over the unexpected loss of this animal," a SeaWorld press release said. Halyn was one of five killer whales at SeaWorld San Antonio's Shamu Theater, but Stephenson said Halyn didn't perform regularly because she was young. The whale was, however, featured in educational presentations and behind-the-scenes tours. The death comes almost eight months after Taku, a 14-year-old male orca, died Oct. 17 at the park. Officials said that death was unexpected as well. Tests showed Taku died of pneumonia, a respiratory infection.

Source: Houston Chronicle

Marineland had lost its matriarch killer whale. Nootka 5 died January 8. She had been at the popular tourist attraction for more than 27 years. "We were heartbroken, absolutely heartbroken," said Marineland spokeswoman Ann Marie Rondinelli. "We don’t like to play favourites but she was definitely loved by everybody," she said. The female killer whale was believed to be around 40 years old (note: she was actually around 30 years old and Marineland knows it!) and had given birth to a number of calves over the years (note: none of whom survived). Marineland is now awaiting the results of a necropsy. Nootka, named after the Native American tribe that lived in parts of British Columbia and Washington, was captured in Iceland in the fall of 1979 (note: that's often stated but actually incorrect; the Icelandic documents show that it was Kiska, who was captured in 1979; Nootka 5 was captured in October 1981).