On 8 January 2008, Nootka (one of Marineland's four killer whales) died. Captured in Iceland in 1976, she spent more than 27 years in captivity and was believed to be around 32 years old when she died.

Marineland is awaiting the results of a necropsy however, spokeswoman Ann Marie Rondinelli said that routine blood work carried out on Nootka had shown that something "wasn't quite right."

Nootka had given birth to a number of calves over the years and her first two calves were sold on to different facilities. When she had her third calf, she tried to drown it, and they had to be separated. She went on to have three more calves that only lived for a few months, it was also reported that she suffered two miscarriages.