Killer whale’s spirit still swims waters
GOLD RIVER, B.C. – Two-year-old Matea Girotto thinks all whales are called Luna.
She sees a whale on television or a picture of a whale in a book and she’ll immediately yell “Luna,” her father, Alberto, said Monday.
A killer whale that officials believe was Luna was killed last Friday after being hit by the propeller of a large tugboat.
Luna had a profound effect on this Vancouver Island community, located about 200 miles northwest of Victoria on Nootka Sound.
About 130 people gathered Monday at the community wharf to remember the whale who made the area his home since 2001, when he became separated from his pod.
Local Indians are also planning a celebration ceremony for Luna this summer, likely in July, Canadian Press reported.
A spokesman for the tugboat company, Great Northern Marine Towing Ltd., of New Westminster, B.C., said the captain and crew of the vessel General Jackson were heartbroken.
Luna, known to enjoy playing in boat wakes, was swimming under the 104-foot tugboat at the time of the accident, Lara Sloan, a spokeswoman for Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans, said earlier.
Gold River resident Miriam Trevis, who attended Monday’s memorial, described a ceremony steeped in Indian traditions. Elders dipped cedar bows into the water to say farewell.
She said Mowachaht chief Mike Maquinna said during the ceremony that nobody should feel blame for what happened to Luna.
Instead, Gold River should feel honored Luna decided to make the area his home, he said.
A killer whale born into one of three Washington state resident pods, Luna was about 6 years old. Orca life stages roughly parallel those of humans, so he was the killer whale equivalent of a young child.
By 2004, Luna’s playful bumping up against boats and float planes was considered a serious hazard. Fisheries officials devised a plan to have him relocated down the coast toward Victoria in an effort to have him reunited with his pod.
The mission was abandoned after local Indians protested. They used canoes and drums to lure Luna away from the scientists who were trying to capture him for the move.
The Mowachaht-Muchalaht believed Luna embodied the spirit of their dead chief.
After it became apparent the Indians were not about to let Luna leave their waters, fisheries officials and the Mowachaht cooperated in a stewardship agreement to watch out for Luna while leaving him in Nootka Sound.
Girotto said he and his daughter saw Luna many times as the whale followed the cargo and passenger vessel M.V. Uchuck III.
Girotto runs the Uchuck, which ferries supplies and people to Gold River and the tiny inlet communities and camps up and down Nootka Sound.