Una's Scrapbook

1. Morgan the orca.

Picture credit: Diva flora nikolova.

Morgan is a Norwegian killer whale rescued 15 years ago in the Netherlands. She was found alone, malnourished and lethargic near Ameland, and was first taken to Dolfinarium Harderwijk, before eventually the tank at the park was deemed too small for her and she was transported to Loro Parque, Tenerife in the Canary islands.

She currently resides at Loro Parque with her companions Tekoa and Adán, and her recently born calf — Teno. She was deemed non-releasable after the staff of Harderwijk found out she was deaf, and ever since lives at Loro Parque, where her disability is accommodated in an incredible way, with her trainers doing everything to secure her a safe and comfortable life.

2. Winter the dolphin.

Picture credit: Clearwater marine aquarium.

Winter was found stranded in the coastal waters of Florida on December 10th, 2005. At the time, she was still a young dolphin calf who was found entangled in a crab trap line, which permanently altered the state of her peduncle and flukes. She was immediately rescued and taken to the Clearwater marine aquarium, but unfortunately a majority of her tail was lost to necrosis. It had to be amputated, which normally would've ended in her being humanely euthanized, but thankfully the CMA found an incredible way to accommodate her — a prosthetic tail.

Winter has starred in various "Dolphin Tale" movies inspired by her story, and has made history as a disabled animal incredibly accommodated by those who rescued her.

Winter sadly passed away on November 11th of 2021 due to an intestinal abnormality.

3. Sami the dolphin.

Picture credit: unknown.

Sami (サミ) was an Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin born at the Okinawa Churaumi aquarium in Japan. She was born on April 14th, 1999 to dolphins Oki and Poi. She was the first Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin born in Japan to have lived for more than a year.

In September of 2020, she developed an infection around her tail flukes that unfortunately caused necrosis before it could've been treated, and parts of her flukes had to be amputated. Thankfully, similarly to Winter, she too received her own prosthetics — ones developed by Bridgestone. Sami sadly passed away at the Okinawa Churaumi aquarium on June 5th, 2025 at the age of 26.

4. T002C2 "Tumbo" the orca.

Picture credit: Simon Pidcock

Tumbo was a west Coast transient killer whale, born around 2005 to T002C "Tasu".

When Tumbo was only a few years old, researchers began noticing a slight curve forming along his spine, a sign he was starting to develop scoliosis. Concern grew for him, especially as with age his condition only worsened. Due to that, he found it hard to keep up with his pod at times, especially when participating in hunts. But thankfully, in a true orca fashion, his family would regularly slow down and wait for him whenever he'd start to get left behind, and would even hunt for him then share the food with him.

Tumbo is especially an important orca to me, since just like him, I too have scoliosis. I don't portray it much, nor do I really talk about it, but it's a large part of my life — especially as it only gets worse with time. Tumbo was last seen around September 2019 when he was reported to be missing, and on March 31st, 2020, was sadly declared deceased.

5. Katak the orca.

Picture credit: Acquired via the killer whale wiki, provided by inherently wild.

Katak was born on August 15th of 1989 to orcas Nootka V (F) and Kandu VII (M) at Marineland Canada. After his birth, he made history as the first captive orca to be born in Canada, and shortly after he was given the name Katak. He bonded well with his mother, and after some time he was diagnosed by the marineland veterinarians with epilepsy, and was put on medication meant to help with it. However, despite the newly found disorder, a decision was made to transfer the young calf to SeaWorld San Diego.

At SeaWorld, he was renamed "Splash", inspired by the way he'd splash around during his seizures. However, many found this name to be quite insensitive, me included, and continue to use the name Katak to this day. Thankfully, he bonded well with the pod at SWSD, and his epilepsy was treated with phenobarbital, along with also being put on medication to treat Ulcers.

During one of his seizures in 1995, Katak accidentally collided head-first with a gate of his tank, and during the event orcas Kasatka (F) and Orkid (F) assisted him and held him up at the surface to help him breathe, showing their care for him. After this seizure, his jaw was left severely damaged and required surgical intervention. After this, he could never fully close his mouth again.

He passed away on April 5th, 2005 due to a perforated stomach, and despite being involved in a few aggression incidents, he was remembered as a lovely and sweet member of the SeaWorld orca pod.

It's really only a number of cetaceans I remember off the top of my head, but they're proof that even with disability one can live a life of happiness, and even with disability one can be shown unconditional love and care.

It is an honor to share disability pride month with these friends!