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Marine mammal used in pioneering research back in limelight

WAIMANALO, Hawaii (AP) - Compared with other marine mammals, 40-year-old Kina has lived a particularly winding and high-profile life.

She went from the open ocean off Japan, to a Hong Kong amusement park, to a classified U.S. Navy program, to a Hawaii research lab. Along the way, studies using the false killer whale - a dark-gray member of the dolphin family with a big, round beak - led to major discoveries on whale hearing and aided in the development of modern military sonar .

"The work that (researchers) have done over the years is quite valuable, and certainly groundbreaking," said Robin Baird, a marine biologist with the nonprofit Cascadia Research Collective, a scientific and education group based in Olympia, Washington.

Now, Kina is again making waves, this time with her latest move to an Oahu marine park. Animal-rights activists say the 13-foot-long (4-meter), toothy mammal and her captive companions deserve peaceful retirements but are instead being traumatized as tourist attractions confined to concrete tanks.

But Kina's handlers maintain she is in excellent care, receiving the best food, veterinary attention and stimulating training, all while continuing to contribute to important science. And park officials say she won't take part in any acrobatic shows like other dolphins in their care.

Kina's journey started in the wild over 30 years ago, when she was captured during a Japanese dolphin hunt. She is believed to be the last living animal in the U.S. from that now-widely condemned fishery. The fishermen sold her to a Hong Kong amusement park, where the U.S. Navy acquired her in 1987.

For the next six years, the Navy used Kina for classified research on sonar, the use of sound to communicate, maneuver and detect objects underwater. It kept her at a Marine base on Oahu's Kaneohe Bay, the largest sheltered body of water in the main Hawaiian Islands.

When that program ended, Kina went to a University of Hawaii lab on Coconut Island, also in Kaneohe Bay, where her science career continued for over 20 years. She took part in echolocation studies that could someday lessen the impacts of man-made ocean noise on marine wildlife. Cetaceans - dolphins, whales and porpoises - use sound waves and echoes to hunt and navigate.

But the university was spending nearly $1 million a year to care for Kina in an ocean pen. So in 2015, amid serious funding problems, the school was forced to auction off Kina and her two dolphin companions.

Sea Life Park , a family attraction just outside Honolulu, put in the highest bid, and the trio has been living there, backstage, ever since.

Animal-rights activists blasted the move as inhumane. Many pushed for a measure that was introduced in the 2017 state Legislature that urged the end to local breeding programs and a phase-out of captivity. The measure failed but could be revisited next year.

Activists also recently led an online "#JusticeForKina" campaign to express their concerns about her confinement at the park, which they say causes physical and psychological distress.

It's "disrespectful to the animal after she gave us so much," said Natalie Parra, co-founder of the Hawaii-based activist group Keiko Conservation .

But Jeff Pawloski, Kina's trainer at the Navy lab 30 years ago and now Sea Life Park's curator, said the campaign has led to a lot of misinformation.

For instance, the park boasts daily dolphin shows and allows visitors - those willing to pay a premium price - the chance to swim with the dolphins. But Pawloski says that won't happen with Kina. Instead, he hopes his old "friend" will help educate the public about how her research aids wild animals.

"Kina's done some phenomenal things over her career, and we intend to keep that going on as long as possible," Pawloski said.

The park agreed to let scientists continue to work with Kina at her new home. One study will look at how she uses echolocation to find fishing hooks and other entanglement hazards- a major threat to wild marine mammals.

The findings could lead to fishing gear that is more "visible" to dolphins and whales, said Paul Nachtigall, founder of the University of Hawaii's Marine Mammal Research Program , where Kina lived before moving to the park. And Sea Life Park, he says, where Kina was reunited with her longtime trainer, is the best possible place for his "old whale."

"You want her with the person who has cared for her most of her life, who knows her best, and is in a situation with very good care."

Still, many animal activists contend Kina belongs not in a tank but in an ocean sanctuary environment closer to her life in the wild. No such facilities currently exist, though at least two groups - a nonprofit called The Whale Sanctuary Project and the National Aquarium in Baltimore - are working to create the first two. Scientists agree most captive whales would die if released directly into the open ocean with no human care.

"I honestly don't think that any knowledge you can give out in a captive facility would justify keeping the animals in the conditions that they're in," Parra said. They live their lives "stripped of all their physical, psychological, social needs just for our entertainment."

Sea Life Park gave The Associated Press access to Kina, where she spends her days in three interconnected, partially shaded pools with her longtime dolphin cohorts. The enclosure is larger than the one she was kept in at the university.

The false killer whale will go on public display later this year after being moved to an even bigger pool with more animals, park officials say. Sea Life Park also holds sea lions, sea turtles, sharks and reef fish. It has a habitat for endangered Hawaiian monk seals and a rehabilitation program for injured seabirds.

Nachtigall thinks the best way to research and care for animals like Kina is to have a paying public.

"The only places left that keep marine mammals where research can be done are public display facilities like Sea Life Park," he said.

In this May 13, 2017 photo, an activist holds a sign during a protest outside Sea Life Park in Waimanalo, Hawaii. A former U.S. Navy research whale that has contributed to groundbreaking science for the past 30 years is again making waves after being sold to a marine amusement park in Hawaii. Animal-rights activists say Kina, a false killer whale, deserves a peaceful retirement in an ocean-based refuge, but is instead being traumatized by confinement in concrete tanks at Sea Life Park. But Kina's former Navy trainer and a longtime marine mammal researcher say no such sea sanctuaries exist, and the park is the best place for the 40-year-old toothy cetacean. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones) The Associated Press
In this June 8, 2017 image made from video, Kina, a false killer whale, swims in a tank at Sea Life Park in Waimanalo, Hawaii. The former U.S. Navy research whale that has contributed to groundbreaking science for the past 30 years is again making waves after being sold to a marine amusement park in Hawaii. Animal-rights activists say Kina, a 13-foot-long (4-meter) member of the dolphin family, deserves a peaceful retirement in an ocean-based refuge, but is instead being traumatized by confinement in concrete tanks. But Kina's former Navy trainer and a longtime marine mammal researcher say no such sea sanctuaries exist, and the park is the best place for the 40-year-old toothy cetacean. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones) The Associated Press
In this June 14, 2017 photo, Paul Nachtigall, founder of the Marine Mammal Research Center at the University of Hawaii, talks with The Associated Press at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology on Coconut Island near Kaneohe, Hawaii. A marine mammal that has contributed to groundbreaking science for the past 30 years, much of it under Nachtigall's supervision, is again making waves after being sold to a marine amusement park in Hawaii. Kina is a false killer whale, a large member of the dolphin family. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones) The Associated Press
In this July 5, 2017 photo, Lori Marino, president of The Whale Sanctuary Project, poses for a photo in St. George, Utah. Marino, an outspoken critic of keeping whales and dolphins in captivity, is trying to create ocean-based sanctuaries for retiring show animals. A former U.S. Navy research whale that has contributed to groundbreaking science for the past 30 years is again making waves after being sold to a marine amusement park in Hawaii. Animal-rights activists say Kina, a false killer whale, deserves a peaceful retirement in an ocean-based refuge, but is instead being traumatized by confinement in concrete tanks at Sea Life Park. But Kina's former Navy trainer and a longtime marine mammal researcher say no such sea sanctuaries exist, and the park is the best place for the 40-year-old toothy cetacean. (AP Photo/John Locher) The Associated Press
In this June 8, 2017 photo, two dolphins perform at Sea Life Park in Waimanalo, Hawaii. A former U.S. Navy research whale that has contributed to groundbreaking science for the past 30 years is again making waves after being sold to the marine amusement park in Hawaii. Animal-rights activists say Kina, a 13-foot-long (4-meter) false killer whale, deserves a peaceful retirement in an ocean-based refuge, but is instead being traumatized by confinement in concrete tanks at Sea Life Park. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones) The Associated Press
In this May 13, 2017 photo, an activist holds a sign during a protest outside Sea Life Park in Waimanalo, Hawaii. A marine mammal that has contributed to groundbreaking science for the past 30 years is again making waves after being sold to the marine amusement park in Hawaii. Kina is a false killer whale, a large member of the dolphin family. Animal-rights activists say she deserves a peaceful retirement in an ocean-based refuge but is instead being traumatized by confinement in concrete tanks at Sea Life Park. But Kina's former Navy trainer and a longtime marine mammal researcher say no such sea sanctuaries exist, and the park is the best place for the 40-year-old toothy cetacean. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones) The Associated Press
FILE- In this March 3, 1980 file photo, a hawk circles over net pens full of dolphins awaiting slaughter on Iki Island, Japan. Fishermen killed most of the animals and turned them into fertilizer for free distribution, but some were captured and sold to marine amusement parks. One of those animals, Kina, contributed to groundbreaking science for the past 30 years and is again making waves after being sold to a marine park in Hawaii. (AP Photo/Sadayuji Mikami, File) The Associated Press
In this June 8, 2017 photo, Kina, a false killer whale, works with trainer Jeff Pawloski at Sea Life Park in Waimanalo, Hawaii. The former U.S. Navy research whale that has contributed to groundbreaking science for the past 30 years is again making waves after being sold to a marine amusement park in Hawaii. (AP Photo/Caleb Jones) The Associated Press
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