In February 1967, for the first time a huge group of orcas was caught and while 5 of them were released and two drowned, 5 of the others went on a long way to marine parks.

The young orcas were sent to Seattle Marine Aquarium where they waited to be sold on and undergo basic training; Kilroy and a female later called Katy* were the youngest of them. Kilroy was a strong young orca and along with Ramu*, he was chosen to move to SeaWorld San Diego one month later.

At SeaWorld, he was trained for shows and met another orca called Shamu*, who was the star performer at the park and two years later was reunited with Kandu*. Since the tank was too small to keep 4 orcas, SeaWorld built a new orca stadium (now the dolphin pool) in 1971 and opened a new park in Ohio. Kilroy was the second orca at Ohio in 1971 and often perfomed during season at Ohio and returning during the winter months at San Diego. Kilroy flourished in his captive environment and became a good performer.

Kilroy got along well with his tank mates and no aggression either to orcas or to trainers is known from him and he even did waterworks with many trainers despite his size.

Unfortunately he died in 1978, 11 years after his capture. The cause of death was later determined as pneumonia the most common disease of orcas and other marine mammals.

- Kilroy is "a nonexistent person popularized by American servicemen during World War II"
- Kilroy also means "son of the red-haired land" in Irish
- Pronunciation of Kilroy: kill-ROY
- Blood Type: 100% Southern Resident