Upon her capture, Katina was purchased by Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, where she was first named Kandu 6.

In 1982, Katina was moved to SeaWorld Ohio in Aurora with another female named Kasatka, also captured in Iceland in October 1978.

For two years, the two would perform in the Ohio park during the summer months and then be moved back to San Diego for the winter.

She had mated with a male named Winston, a member of the Southern resident orca community captured near Coupeville, Washington in 1970.

Although ten orca calves had been born in captivity prior to Kalina, none of them had survived past a few weeks.

He was transferred to SeaWorld San Antonio in November 2006, where he died 11 months later from the West Nile virus.

Katina's usual maternal behavior only resumed after Taku and Ikaika were moved out of SeaWorld Orlando in November 2006.

[5] On October 9, 2010, Katina gave birth to her seventh calf and her third son, Makaio, just five days after her first offspring Kalina died.

Katina's son Taku fathered a male calf named Trua who was born to Takara on November 23, 2005.

Keet, Kalina's oldest calf, has fathered two daughters of his own: Kalia (2004) and Halyn (2005–2008), making Katina the first ever great-grandmother at SeaWorld.

On December 2, 2014, Kalia gave birth to Katina's first great-great grandchild, Amaya, sired by Ulises.

Katina is about 48 years old and is the second oldest orca in captivity after Corky, who lives at SeaWorld San Diego.

Her dorsal fin was treated with medical honey and cold laser therapy and it has since fully healed, although a notch is still visible at its base.

[9][10] Katina currently lives with her two youngest offspring, Nalani and Makaio, her grandson Trua, and an unrelated female, Malia, born in 2007.