Stroke killed orca Bjossa

Sue Murray could hardly contain her tears yesterday in finally accepting that Bjossa is gone for good.

"She was a special lady, she really was," said Murray, who organized thousands of sleepovers for kids at the Vancouver Aquarium. "I grew up with her and I learned so much from her. She had so much to give.

"I'm going to miss her."

Murray was one of dozens of sombre aquarium staff at a news conference yesterday that detailed preliminary results of the autopsy on the 25-year-old orca.

She died suddenly Monday, apparently of a stroke.

"There was a session between two or three o'clock when the trainers went

out and played with her and fed her," said Vancouver Aquarium veterinarian, Dr. David Huff. "Everything was absolutely normal and then . . . she had what amounted to a bit of a stroke and just quietly passed away immediately."

Huff said Bjossa had suffered from a neurological problem for a week before her death. Vets in San Diego, mindful of possible side-effects from drugs used to treat her infections, took her off them, but there was no change.

Doug Imbeau of No Whales in Captivity said Bjossa should have been kept in Vancouver or released in her native waters off Iceland. By sending her to San Diego, Imbeau said, the aquarium avoided the "media nightmare" of her dying here.

"Horsefeathers," replied aquarium president John Nightingale. "If anybody had thought that this was going to happen, Bjossa would not have moved at all."

Bjossa's longtime trainer Clint Wright said she was sent to San Diego so she could be with other orcas.

"[In San Diego] she was playing with the other killer whales, she was flying around having a great time, and she seemed to love being there," he said.

"It was one of the best things we could have done. I still believe that."

Farewell messages can be sent to the aquarium's website at www.vanaqua.org

TROUBLED MEDICAL HISTORY

1980 -- Bjossa, aged one, Vigga and Finna are captured off Iceland.

1988 -- Bjossa gives birth to her first calf, but it dies three weeks later.

1991 -- Her second calf, K'yosha, survives three months.

1995 -- Bjossa's third calf dies just minutes after birth. She is given a contraceptive.

October 1997 -- Finna, Bjossa's mate, dies from a lung infection. A search begins to find her a new companion.

March 2000 -- Bjossa is taken from public display after struggling with a respiratory infection.

April 2001 -- Bjossa is moved to SeaWorld, performs under the generic show name Shamu, shared with eight other orcas.

Aug. 20, 2001 -- Bjossa becomes gravely ill. Suffering a reoccurrence of her respiratory illness, she is moved to a secluded tank. She gradually recovers but is not given the all clear and is kept in seclusion.

Oct. 8, 2001 -- Bjossa dies from a stroke, a week after first exhibiting neurological problems. Autopsy shows widespread lung damage and a large abscess.

Copyright 2001 The Province