Animal rights activists hold a memorial service outside Marineland for Kiska the whale

Animal rights activists held a memorial service outside Marineland in Niagara Falls Saturday.

They were there to remember Kiska, the killer whale that died last week, and to call for other whales at Marineland to be returned to the ocean.

Activists lined the road beside Marineland as they protested in memory of Kiska and pinned flowers to a gate to honor the whale.

Kiska died just over a week ago after becoming known internationally as the “loneliest whale in the world.”

she lived alone in a pool at Marineland for the past 12 years, at times apparently expressing frustration.

Canada outlawed whale captivity four years ago, but Kiska was about 47 years old and couldn’t be returned to the wild successfully after living most of her life in captivity.

But an American group is setting up a whale sanctuary on the Atlantic coast for whales like Kiska.

Protestors say society knows better now than to keep whales in captivity, like the Beluga whales and other marine mammals still at Marineland, and Kiska.