Today is a sad day for whale enthusiasts the planet over. Our wayward cetacean friend, Luna (L98) has left us forever. His story has been one of joy and sadness for marine biologists, tourists, residents of Gold River, and whale lovers everywhere. His life has also been one of political jockeying among government agencies, marine contractors, and aboriginal peoples. Today, the final chapter was written. I hope we can learn from the tragic events in Mooyah Bay this morning.
Luna, Tsux'itt, or L98 (whichever name you prefer) had developed a bad habit of playing with boats. He is known to rub on rudders, break off sonar nodules, and surf in the prop-wash. He was a very big fan of boats. It seemed to break the monotony of lonely fishing. He had been observed breaking off from fishing to ride along with boats for a time, then return to fishing.
I know a sailor who met Luna. He took this beautiful picture from the bridge of his ship in the Nootka Sound area. Luna was racing alongside the boat. The captain decided to slow down to let Tsux'iit keep up a bit better. This didn't seem to work for Luna and he disappeared. Shortly after resuming speed, L98 showed up again!! I guess he liked the challenge.
It was this challenge that likely led to Luna's demise. He has been seen prop-wash surfing on many occasions. He liked to get right behind a boat and stick his nose just inches from the prop and ride in the vortex of the white water churned up by the propellers. I guess it is like riding a bike as close as you can to the back of a bus. Fun but risky! Luna had a good life. He spent most of his time dining lavishly on salmon and visiting with his friends of all species. He was even reported playing a game of 'tag' with a sea lion pup about his own age. (see this link - third paragraph)
This article is written by Michael Parfit. He is a leading expert on L98 and has been very busy making valuable observations of the wayward orca's life. This article was written only 11 days before Luna's untimely death. It is Parfit's playful and sorrowful observations that grip me, and the third-to-last sentence that paralyzes me. "That will soon change." Parfit is referring to the relationship between Orca and Man. I think in this particular instance, the author was referring to the relationship between one particular whale and the regional population of man. I think however, that Luna or Tsux'iit, should stand for much more than one whale's struggle.
A poplulation of experts, government agencies, conservation groups, and other interested parties has been crying out for assistance to be given to Luna (and their cries have become more and more frequent and louder and louder). The young orca needed our help to survive and we did not provide it!! We knew the dangers! Our respected population has said all along that Luna's affection for people and requirement for sociallization would lead to disaster. Many predicted this very end for our friend.
L98's final moments were spent with his head only inches from the propellor of a tugboat. This one was much larger than most of the props he liked to play with. This prop was from a 100 foot, 2700 tonne tugboat named General Jackson. The boat had come into the shelter of Mooyah Bay near Nootka Sound in high winds and rough seas. It was idling close to shore when the curious and bored young orca came to visit.
I don't need to say much more, as we know Luna spent his last moments close to the fast-moving propulsion system for this massive boat. I need only to say that it was a very fast death. In fact, Luna may still wonder what happened. The intelligent and boat-saavy orca miscalculated. It is a true tradgedy. The skipper of the vessel is very sad and no one person is to blame.
The only blame goes on the human animal itself. We let this happen!!! We call them experts. We call them scientists. We did not listen to our own intelligence! We knew what had to be done to avoid this very ending! We did not listen to ourselves.
Prevention would lie in keeping Luna out of the way of boats. He was just a youthful whale. This could have been quite easy: otherwise occupy him. The best way to do that is to give him some company. There have been many plans and many offers to scoop him up and return him to his family. Actually, there is a large community of people from all over the world who keep tabs on him and put money toward his cause. There is a number of websites which focus on this topic. REUNITELUNA.com is one such site.
I hope the flame which fuelled the fire to protect Luna can now be used to fuel a much larger fire. I hope the untimely and irresponsible death of an icon can stoke a new fire to protect all marine wildlife more vigilantly, especially the top predator, the mighty BlackFish!
We as humans have the responsiblity to protect our environment and the things we care about. When we KNOW what to do and our collective consciousness shows us what to do, we must DO IT!! We must not sit back and watch as the inevidable happens! We must act!
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