Orcas have escaped killer reputation

Associated Press

SEQUIM — The plight of a killer whale stranded in shallow water near Dungeness Spit brought throngs of onlookers eager to see it saved.

Some wept at the sight of another orca, possibly the mother of the stranded one, dead on a nearby beach.

Orcas haven’t always been so popular. The killer whale’s image has undergone a drastic transformation since mid-1960s, about the time a male — subsequently dubbed "Namu" — was captured off of British Columbia and towed to the Seattle Aquarium in a floating cage.

When aquarium owner Ted Griffin swam and played with Namu, people began having second thoughts about the powerful mammal the Navy had called "a ruthless and ferocious beast."

The Navy wasn’t alone. Roman scholar Pliny the Elder described the animal as "an enormous mass of flesh armed with savage teeth." Translated from the Latin, its full name — orcinus orca — means "whale from the realm of the dead."

On the other hand, the Samish Indians considered the orca a tribal member. Haida Indians to the north called it S’gan — "chief of the underworld" — and believed it had supernatural powers.

The low point for the species came in the middle of the 20th century. Reportedly, the Air Force used orcas for strafing practice. Fishermen took pot shots at them.

Then came Namu, and things began to change for the killer whale — actually not a whale at all but the largest member of the dolphin family.

In the late ’70s, Ralph Munro — the recently retired secretary of state, then an aide to Gov. Dan Evans — persuaded his boss to go to court and stop an orca hunt by Sea World. That ended orca captures in Puget Sound.

Researchers began cataloging the Puget Sound orcas, identifying them through their distinctive black-and-white markings and charting a complex, family-oriented social structure.

They learned that groups of orcas — the sound has three resident "pods" — appear to have special greetings for each other and communicate in squeals and clicks.

Now, even the animal’s name reflects the image change: It’s called "orca" a lot more than "killer whale" these days.

"When you see an orca, it’s kind of something you feel in your soul," asked Sherri Hanke of Port Townsend, one of the many people who watched rescuers free the stranded whale Friday. "They’re just magnificent animals. They’re a wonder. They’re an awe."

The 1993 movie "Free Willy," which made $75 million at the box office, helped. Thousands of schoolchildren donated money to move the star of the movie, Keiko, from a cramped tank in Mexico City to the Oregon Coast Aquarium for rehabilitation. He is now in his homeland of Iceland, where supporters — including cell-phone pioneer Craig McCaw — hope he can be returned to the wild.

Orcas have become a poster species in part because of their charismatic, playful personality — and that has helped other species. When people protect orca habitat, they protect others as well.

"In order to save the charismatic creatures, you have to save the environment they’re in," said Dave Ellifrit, a researcher for the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor. "Sometimes, it takes a poster child to hook people before they learn all about the intricacies of the food web."

As for the orca that was stranded for three days, it was towed out into the Strait of Juan de Fuca on Friday. It seemed to perk up as it swam west, and researchers hadn’t heard from it since.

Kelley Balcomb, another researcher at the whale center, said attempts were being made Sunday to locate by air the signal from a time-depth recorder attached to the orca.

"That animal could easily be quite a ways away at this point, so no news is good news," he said.

Meanwhile, the Southwest Fisheries Science Center and Cascadia Research identified the stranded and the beached orcas by the shape of spots near their dorsal fins.

Both had been seen in a group of 10 whales in Coos Bay off Oregon on Sept. 12, 1996. They were recorded as CA-188 and CA-189.

They were coastal, transient whales — apparently in the strait hunting seal, Balcomb said.

That they were seen together earlier bolstered researchers’ theory that the stranded male became disoriented after his companion died.

Associated Press

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