U.S. Activists Call for Shipping Luna Home

Thursday, July 24, 2003
VICTORIA -- U.S. environmentalists say it's time for Canada's orca watchdogs to stop being afraid of failure and to ship Luna, a young killer whale stranded in Nootka Sound, south to rejoin his pod in the San Juan Islands.

Fred Felleman, of the Seattle-based Orca Conservancy, said Luna is important to the biological future of the endangered southern resident population, which has shrunk to 83 animals.

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has an obligation to the recovery of the southern resident (orca) community, said Felleman.

Three-year-old Luna has been swimming in Nootka Sound for more than a year, isolated from his family.

The whale spends an increasing time interacting with boats and people. The DFO initially decided to leave him where he is, in the hope he might make contact with his pod or swim out of of the sound on his own.

While Marilyn Joyce, the department's co-ordinator for marine mammals, admits Luna's behaviour is worrying, she warns that if DFO allows intervention and a reunification fails, then Luna's options narrow considerably and he may even end in captivity.

Felleman says Luna is so used to boats that he'd be easy to catch, and he is healthy enough to be set free in waters close to his family.

He's an animal in physical health that just needs a transportation ticket rather than an intensive-care situation.

Felleman says Canadian authorities should also remember the efforts made by U.S. authorities last summer to reunite the orca Springer with her relatives among the northern residents.

I think in the spirit of bilateralism we are trying to come up with some kind of exchange program.

A number of Canadians share Felleman's view. Ellen Hartlmeier of Victoria and Rene Halliburton of Campbell River have begun an Internet petition calling for the reunification of Luna with his family.

Click Here to Sign the Petition