"There be whales, Captain..."

I have a sister who is going into Marine Biology this next year after finishing her cores at MSSU, so it is no wonder that for the past few months I have heard one whale story after another. Today was no exception. The story was about a whale named Luna. No this I not a female whale, as you might think due to the name. He is a seven-year-old male orca, orphaned. The circumstances of his being orphaned are a little bizarre. He was born around the San Juan Islands up in the Northwest. During a massive storm, or so it was said, he ended up getting separated from his pod and traveled farther up north into Canadian waters. Within a year, another young orca named Springer, found her way down into the Puget Sound. It was eventually learned that Springer was a Canadian orca. I was think, “that’s weird, one of ours for one of theirs”. Well coming from one who has grown up in the Northwest, I assure you that, since the late 70’s, we have learned to respect these magnificent creatures. So when my sister had told me that the people of the Northwest had made it a priority to return Springer to her natural Canadian waters, I was not surprised. I was, however, surprised to her that many Canadian’s did not share our enthusiasm for reuniting the two orcas back into their families. And so, as Springer made her way back to her home, Luna did not. The Canadians refused to allow the people of Northwest to interfere with Luna. As Luna traveled within the confines of the Nootka Sound he made friends with most of the fishing vessels. The age of an orca is very similar to that of a human. So in my mind I am picturing a small boy of seven…lost. It, kind of, tears at my heart. Orcas are also very communal and need interaction with something living. They are affectionate in a wild way. So it is no wonder to me that he gravitated toward anything would be his friend. Unfortunately, not all of the fishermen wanted him around. He was too friendly and gravitated to people which caused a few incidents with this orca and the public. Not to mention that he ate fish that made up the livelihood of the fishing industry. My opinion, he is one whale – how much could he really take away from the fishermen? Not much. They just considered him more of a nuisance. Well, while the Canadian government refused to get involved with the orca’s rescue there were a group of activist (stewards) that pretty much babysat him for many years. They formed a bond with him that they hoped would be his rescue. Their intent was to coax him out of the sound and into the open ocean where they would hope to lead back down the coast and close to his family pod. One sound of his family’s calling and he would find his way home. It was quite a big deal. The other plan that was in operation was to get enough funds to airlift him back to the Puget Sound. In 2006, the money started to roll in after a husband and wife team did a documentary on Luna’s crisis. Even the Canadian Government had given their sanction to allow the US to take the whale home. Tragically, Luna never got a chance to swim the open waters. In March of 2006, a large fishing vessel had gotten Luna’s attention with antics and horse play. And just as any 7 year-old would be attracted to this, Luna swam over to the vessel while the fishermen coaxed on. Whether he was lured purposefully or not is up to debate, but what happened next was not an accident. The Captain threw his propellers into reverse and ran right over Luna, senselessly killing him. Does this outrage you…it did me. I can’t say that my sister has many happy stories about our human interaction with these orcas. That is really sad. I have never been a tree hugger, an eco-friend or a save-the-whales human…but my heart tells me that maybe I should be.