Tribute Planned For Missing Orca Lummi

Friday, September 26, 2008
VICTORIA, BRITISH COLUMBIA - She's been missing and presumed dead for several months, so now it's time to say good-bye.

Lummi, the oldest orca among the three pods of endangered southern resident killer whales, did not return to the waters off southern Vancouver Island and Puget Sound this summer, and a celebration of her life will be held Saturday at Lime Kiln Point State Park lighthouse on San Juan Island.

The ceremony, organized by the Orca Network and The Whale Museum at Friday Harbor, will include stories about Lummi and a tribute by the Ohileq-sen canoe family from the Lummi Nation.

Whales must be missing for a year before being officially declared dead by the Center for Whale Research. Although Lummi was last seen Dec. 23, 2007, her absence from the pod since leaves little doubt she is dead, said Howard Garrett of the Orca Network.

The whale, officially designated K7, is believed to have been born in 1910.

"Her loss removes a repository of cultural knowledge and history of the southern residents," Garrett said.

"She knew more than anyone about the last 90 to 100 years, and it was a tumultuous century."

In her youth, Lummi experienced the first slump in salmon stocks and orcas were considered vicious killers and routinely shot.

"She had to guide her family to find scarce salmon and avoid hostile humans fishing for the same fish," Garrett said.

Then came a period of intense whale hunting that lasted until the 1970s, when legislation finally offered the mammals official protection.

Source: The Vancouver Sun