Animal Obituaries

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, May 2009:
Qannik, 8, a beluga whale, died from a bacterial blood
infection on March 27, 2009 at the Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium in
Tacoma, Washington, his home since 2007. Qannik was the eighth
beluga to live at Point Defiance, where belugas have been exhibited
for about 25 years, and was the fourth to die there. His mother,
Mayauk, had two stillbirths at Point Defiance before she was
transferred to the John Shedd Aquarium in Chicago. There she
successfully birthed Qannik and a sibling. Qannik at Point Defiance
replaced Turner, 13, who died in 2006. Beethoven, 16, companion
to both Turner and Qannik, is to be returned to Sea World San
Antonio, his birthplace, where he will join the Sea World captive
breeding program. As none of the 34 other belugas now in captivity
in the U.S. need a new home, Point Defiance “has applied for three
California sea lions as part of the government effort to trap and
remove dozens of the animals, who are feeding on endangered salmon
on the Columbia River, reported the Tacoma News Tribune.

Alysheba, 25, winner of the 1987 Kentucky Derby and
Preakness, but only fourth in his Triple Crown bid at the Belmont
Stakes, was euthanized on March 27, 2009 after suffering a severe
right hind femur injury from falling in his stall at the Kentucky
Horse Park Hall of Champions. The fall was due to a chronic
degenerative spinal condition, said Kentucky Horse Park director of
equine operations Kathy Hopkins. Second by a nose in the 1986
Breeders’ Cup Classic, Alysheba won the Classic in 1988 and retired
to stud in Saudia Arabia in 1989 as the top winning horse of all
time, having earned $6.6 million from 11 wins in 26 starts. That
record was later broken by Cigar, briefly Alysheba’s stable mate
after the Kentucky Horse Park acquired Aysheba in 2008.

Kaylee, 15, a dolphin who lived all her life at the
Brookfield Zoo’s Seven Seas pavilion, was euthanized on April 3,
2009 due to multiple health issues. Her death came eight days after
the death of Alpha, 48, a female lowland gorilla brought from
Africa to the Brookfield Zoo in 1966.