“…since 2020, a small pod of orcas in the strait of Gibraltar has been interacting with sailing boats in a new way: ramming vessels, pressing their bodies and heads into the hulls and biting, even snapping off, the rudders. Over three years, more than 500 interactions have been recorded, three boats sunk and dozens of others damaged.” -The Guardian, July 11, 2023

Planning is now underway to return Lolita, aka Tokitae, aka Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut, from the Miami Seaquarium to her home waters in the Pacific Northwest. On March 30 The Dolphin Company, owner of the Seaquarium, along with the non-profit Friends of Toki, who have dramatically improved her water quality, joined by philanthropist Jim Irsay, announced a signed agreement to work together toward retiring Toki in her native habitat, where she was born and taught how to be an orca by her mother and family.

April is Earth and Ocean Month on Whidbey Island, a time to partner with other organizations and individuals and inspire action to protect this rich ecosystem and the home of so many species we hold dear. Each April Orca Network celebrates the Sounders gray whales, a group of now almost 20 animals who break off their migration route to feed on ghost shrimp in North Puget Sound waters.

New names for the Sounders gray whales announced

Cascadia Research and Orca Network are pleased to announce the winning names for our Sounder gray whales, which have been eagerly awaited by many. With over 1,200 votes from the public, we are thrilled to introduce the following whales with their new monikers:

In early June of 1993, just after I started driving across the US on my way to San Juan Island to rejoin Ken and take part in the ongoing photo-identification research, I noticed a movie marquee that said "Sneak Preview - Free Willy!" I sat in a front row, from which the glorious moving images of Southern Resident orcas filled the screen and took my breath away. These were whales I had encountered numerous times ten years previously when I assisted the research. I was deeply touched to see them magnified even larger than real life.

A few months ago an important paper was published to establish the harm done to the brains of captive elephants and cetaceans. Putative neural consequences of captivity for elephants and cetaceans by Bob Jacobs, et al. provides “a substantive hypothesis about the negative impact of captivity on the brains of large mammals” The paper supplements observations of pathological behavior like chewing on hard surfaces or head-banging against a wall, and biomedical symptoms of stress, and adds neurological damage that likely accompany such symptoms.

The Chehalis River is one of the last free-flowing rivers on the west coast of the United States, and in some years it is the biggest producer of wild salmon in Washington State. These salmon are an important source of food for the endangered Southern Resident orcas. But the river floods, as all good rivers do, and these floods are becoming more catastrophic, due to climate change and habitat destruction in the Chehalis Basin.