[Desmond]

New orca-inspired horse. xD Named after Sumar the orca.

Sumar (May 14, 1998 — September 7, 2010) was a male Orca born at SeaWorld Orlando in Florida. His mother was Taima and he was her first calf. Just six months after birth, an incident happened when, during a show, his mother attacked him, pushing him against the glass, trying to make him fall. The crowd was evacuated and the show canceled. The trainers tried to move Taima to another tank and finally separated her from her son. Since then, the two of them have been always separated and Kalina and Katina became his surrogate mothers until he was transferred to SeaWorld San Diego in California on March 8, 1999. Afterwards, he spent a few months at now-closed SeaWorld Ohio before being transferred back to the San Diego park. There, he was mothered by Corky II.

He was considered very gentle with other Orcas[45] and trainers. Sumar spent a lot of time with Nakai. However, the dominant female Kasatka had a tendency to pick on him time to time. At the time of his death he was one of three males at the park, and was seen as a possible breeding male in the future; Nakai, the younger male, is still too young to breed, and the older male Ulises seems to have a low sperm count. Sumar was approaching full size for a typical bull orca when he died: his dorsal fin was more and more leaning to its left and his flukes were beginning to curl under. He was about 4.6 m (15.3 feet) long and weighed around 5,300 pounds (2,400 kg). He was often used for shows in the park.[46] The theme of a June 2010 episode of Cupcake Wars was Sumar's twelfth birthday. [47]

Sumar died at SeaWorld in San Diego, California, on Tuesday, September 7, 2010, at the age of 12. Trainers noticed that the whale was not feeling well on Monday, September 6, 2010 which resulted in veterinarians being notified, blood samples drawn, and antibiotics administered. Despite measures taken by Sumar's veterinarian team, Sumar became increasingly ill by Tuesday. He died shortly before 1:45 PM (Pacific time). Sumar's death prompted the canceling of the park's Orca shows for the day. His death was determined to be as a result of a twisted intestinal tract (intestinal volvulus). He was set to be the next captive breeding bull orca, after his father Tilikum.

[khenney]

very touching

[Cougar28]

Man, I wish Sea World was still here in Ohio, I loved going there