Japanese Dolphinariums 101: Nagoya Aquarium
General Info:
Port Of Nagoya Aquarium (名古屋港水族館) opened in 1992. They previously owned one of the infamous "Taiji Ten" (aka Taiji Five) orcas that were captured in Taiji in 1997.
News And Mentionable Incidents:
In October of 2003 they transferred an orca named Ku (Koo) to the facility on a 5 year loan from Kamogawa Seaworld that was later extended another 5 years. Unfortunately, Ku died of heart failure in 2008. Ku was one of the "Taiji Ten," (aka Taiji Five) the ten orcas (5 released into captivity, 5 chased back out to sea) captured in Taiji in 1997 and sold into captivity.
Photos: IKA-NET.jp
Three bottlenose dolphins were purchased from Taiji in 2005.
In 2011, after less than a year at Nagoya, an orca named Nami died. She was transferred from Taiji Whale Museum where she had spent the last 24 years. It was found that she had swallowed 491 stones, weighing 179.5 pounds during her time in Taiji, causing her death.
A Pacific white-sided Dolphin was purchased from Taiji while pregnant in 2008. She died during training, landing on cement.
In December of 2011, orcas Stella and Bingo (both wild captures from Iceland) were transferred on a breeding loan from Kamogawa SeaWorld. Stella was forced to leave behind three offspring in the transfer. Her and Bingo calved a female in 2012 named Lin at Nagoya but she was later transferred to Kamogawa.
In 2012, Taiji Whale Museum decided to dig up Nami's remains to put on display.
On September, 2016 a bottlenose dolphin acquired from Taiji named Lulu gave birth to a calf. She began exhibiting aggressive behavior towards the calf which escalated to the calf's death, just four days later. This is an act that is "exceedingly rare for mother dolphins in the wild... However, it is a major concern for captive cetaceans."
In March of 2017 they purchased an orca from Kamogawa for approx. 5 million dollars. He is the only male Orca in Japan as of today. Calf between Oscar and Raby (also both originally captured from Iceland).
On Sept. 14th 2017 a bottlenose dolphin named Bibi gave birth to a calf. The calf died on Sept. 15th 2017. Staff noted that the mother and calf's health were both unstable after the birth. Source: CetaBase
Winnie ウィニー, a bottlenose dolphin, gave birth to a female calf on September 23, 2017 at the Port of Nagoya Aquarium in Japan. Source: CetaBase.
Any Taiji Affiliation? Yes, purchased multiple animals directly from the fishery and indirectly through Taiji Whale Museum or other facilties.
What can you do? Knowledge is power and a lot of people would not be attending and purchasing tickets to these places if they knew what was going behind closed doors. You can reach millions on social media! Don't let a language barrier stop you! You can copy and paste the following phrases to their guests on their social media accounts linked below. This facility lacks an Instagram account so we've linked their location tag on IG. Don't forget to leave them a Facebook review!
