Aboriginals Believe Whale Is Reincarnated Chief

[naitaka]

Drums, songs lure orca from scientists

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/06/16/canada/orca_drums040616

GOLD RIVER, B.C. - Plans to capture Luna the killer whale have been thwarted by First Nations protesters who have led the orca away from the pen set to trap him.

Officials with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans want to take the overly-friendly whale from Nootka Sound and reunite him with his pod near Victoria, about 400 kilometres to the south. Luna has been separated from his pod for more than two years.

But a group of aboriginals set out in war canoes on Wednesday morning and led Luna away. At last report, the whale was 10 kilometres down Nootka Sound.

CBC News reporter Alan Waterman reports the aboriginals are singing to the orca and using drums to lure him from the scientists on DFO boats.

The Mowaat and Muchalaat First Nations believe Luna embodies the spirit of Chief Ambrose Maquinna, who died days before the whale was first seen in the area.

The protesters hope to drag out the process, keeping Luna away from the DFO pen until the money for the project – estimated at $500,000 – runs out.

Maquinna's son, Chief Mike Maquinna, offered the paddlers words of encouragement before they set out.

"This is our territory that they're infringing on," he said.

 

[Alexius4]

Dunno about anyone else, but when I read that this came to mind. Hit it, Mr. Lou:

They say he didn't have an enemy
his was a greatness to behold
He was the last surviving progeny
the last one on this side of the world

He measured a half mile from tip to tail
silver and black with powerful fins
They say he could split a mountain in two
that's how we got the Grand Canyon

Last great American whale
last great American whale
Last great American whale
last great American whale

Some say they saw him at the Great Lakes
some say they saw him off of Florida
My mother said she saw him in Chinatown
but you can't always trust your mother

Off the Carolinas the sun shines brightly in the day
the lighthouse glows ghostly there at night
The chief of a local tribe had killed a racist mayor's son
and he'd been on death row since 1958

The mayor's kid was a rowdy pig
spit on Indians and lots worse
The old chief buried a hatchet in his head
life compared to death for him seemed worse

The tribal brothers gathered in the lighthouse to sing
and tried to conjure up a storm or rain
The harbor parted, the great whale sprang full up
and caused a hugh tidal wave

The wave crushed the jail and freed the chief
the tribe let out a roar
The whites were drowned, the browns and reds set free
but sadly one thing more

Some local yokel member of the NRA
kept a bazooka in his living room
And thinking he had the chief in his sight
blew the whale's brains out with a lead harpoon

Last great American whale
last great American whale
Last great American whale
last great American whale

Well Americans don't care for much of anything
land and water the least
And animal life is low on the totem pole
with human life not worth more than infected yeast

Americans don't care too much for beauty
they'll shit in a river, dump battery acid in a stream
They'll watch dead rats wash up on the beach
and complain if they can't swim

They say things are done for the majority
don't believe half of what you see and none of what you hear
It's like what my painter friend Donald said to me
"Stick a fork in their ass and turn them over, they're done"

 

[TheQuixote]

Neighbours laud decision on B.C. whale
CP 2004-07-30 01:44:27

VICTORIA -- Luna, the rambunctious, lonely killer whale, will spend the summer in its adopted home and that's relieved some residents of Gold River, B.C. Residents of the tiny community whose dock Luna frequently visits said yesterday the Fisheries Department made the right move in retreating on plans to capture and move Luna.

"Just leave well enough alone," said Suzanne Trevis, president of Gold River's chamber of commerce.

Luna became the focus of a high seas tug-of-war between northern Vancouver Island aboriginals and federal fisheries scientists in June when officials tried to capture the 1,360-kilogram whale as part of an effort to reunite it with its pod off southern Vancouver Island.

Officials were concerned Luna's increasingly friendly behaviour -- bumping up against boats and hanging out near the Gold River dock -- would eventually lead to tragedy.

But area aboriginals intervened, taking to the ocean in canoes to lure Luna away from the capture pen.

After a week of tension, the capture was put off.

Fisheries officials and aboriginals representatives met Wednesday and the department announced the plans to move four-year-old Luna 400 kilometres to waters off Victoria would be on hold.

Instead, Fisheries and area aboriginals agreed to jointly monitor the whale.

"A lot of people here are surprised the (aboriginals) actually got as far as they did," Trevis said. "But most of them are very pleased about how it's gone. Half of them probably, if they could get in a canoe and help, they probably would have."

The Mowachaht-Muchalaht believe Luna embodies the spirit of their late chief, Ambrose Maquinna, who said he would return to them in the form of a whale after he died.

Only days after the chief's death three years ago, Luna appeared in the Gold River area.

Fisheries officials said they will focus on enforcing rules to keep people away from Luna while the Mowachaht-Muchalaht will spearhead education and awareness initiatives at the dock where Luna spends time toying with boats and looking at people.

The stewardship program, which is still being developed, will focus on keeping boats and people away from the friendly orca and to report those who get too close.

Copyright © The London Free Press 2001,2002,2003

http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/LondonFreePress/News/2004/07/30/562473.html

 

[Mighty_Emperor]

'Friendly' Killer Whale Damaging Boats

Sat Aug 28, 4:44 PM ET


GOLD RIVER, British Columbia - A "playful" killer whale who likes to frolic alongside fishermen has damaged three boats in separate incidents in recent weeks.

Luna, described by fishermen as a friendly 5-year-old whale, has made frequent contact with people and boats in waters off Vancouver Island, about 125 miles north of the U.S. border, since he began frequenting the waters more than two years ago.

Now Canadian officials and an Indian group that believes the animal is the reincarnation of its late chief are working on a plan to protect both Luna and humans. Officials hope to eventually reunite him with his pod of U.S. relatives.

Witnesses said Luna damaged the rudders of a sailboat and two gillnetters in Nootka Sound in recent weeks. For hours after damaging the boats, Luna bumped and nudged the vessels, apparently seeking social contact, said Les Rombough, president of Canada's Area D Gillnetters Association.

One fishing boat was so damaged that its 75-year-old skipper had to rig a rope-and-pulley system to steer it while Luna continued to "harass and bang around the boat like a beach ball for five hours," Rombough told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer for a story in Saturday's editions.

Still, Rombough said, "he's just being playful."

But as Luna grows, there is concern the encounters have gotten increasingly dangerous. Rombough said fishermen would love to avoid Luna, but "you just can't do that anymore."

The Canadian Fisheries department and the Mowachaht-Muchalaht First Nation — a band that believes Luna embodies the spirit of their dead chief — plan to unveil a formal "stewardship plan" for the whale this week, said Don Radford, acting director of the fisheries department's regional office.

The plan will include providing public information on how to avoid Luna and what to do if one encounters him, Radford said.

In the past, people have contributed to the problem by coming down to the dock to see the whale, who used to snoop around docks and boat propellers. One person even tried to brush the whale's teeth.

Radford said the Indian band has already posted warning signs, restricted some dock access and distributed brochures about the whale. He said the fisheries agency issues radio broadcast advisories about the whale over maritime frequencies.

In June, fisheries officials tried to capture Luna in an effort to reunite him with his pod as the small group of whales swam past the southern tip of Vancouver Island.

The plan was scuttled, however after canoes of Mowachaht-Muchalaht lured the whale away: They said they were uncomfortable with the plan.

Some said a stewardship should have been put into place soon after that incident.

Radford said his agency is committed to reuniting Luna with his pod and will resume negotiations with the Mowachaht-Muchalaht this fall.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=753&e=1&u=/ap/20040828/ap_on_sc/canada_killer_whale

 

[naitaka]

Meanwhile, on Canada's Atlantic coast, another whale is causing problems:

Wayward whale just won't leave N.S. power dam

A young humpback whale trapped in a Nova Scotia power dam is still swimming around in the Annapolis River, despite attempts by fishery officials and biologists to lure it out.

Jerry Conway, a marine mammal specialist with the Fisheries Department, says the whale will be left alone for a few days.

There had been homes that the whale, nicknamed "Sluice", would find its own way out of the dam. Officials even tried to seduce Sluice with "whale music" to encourage him to head out to the Bay of Fundy.

The plan appeared to be working at first, but for some reason the whale turned and headed back into the dam.

Since the whale won't leave on its own, Conway said other options will have to considered, including making a lot of noise to frighten it, or trailing a net behind him to make him leave the power station.

There is no incentive for the whale to leave the dam, because high tides are bringing in meals of herring and mackerel twice a day.

Sluice entered the power dam more than a week ago. Ever since then, the Annapolis royal Tidal Generating Station has been shut down.

It's thought he was in search of dinner as he followed a school of fish through the gates and up the Annapolis River.

Sluice had come within metres of the gates a few times, but always seemed to change his mind at the last minute.

This is the second time in recent memory a whale has slipped through the gates of the 20-year-old Annapolis plant. The first whale to enter the head pond 10 years ago eventually left without a scrape after a few hours.

The plant generates electricity twice a day when the bay's tides fill the head pond. When the tide falls, the water flows through the turbine, producing more than 30 million kilowatt hours per year -- enough to power 4,000 homes.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1094049789280_9?hub=SciTech