Operation Orca: Springer, Luna and the Struggle to Save West Coast Killer Whales.

Ann Turner is Financial and Budget Manager at the University of British
Columbia Library.

The rescues of Springer and Luna, two young orca calves abandoned by their family pods in 2001–02, captured international news headlines and changed the public’s perception of killer whales forever. Sadly, they had very different outcomes. Springer was found in Puget Sound near Seattle, but her family pod was based in Canadian waters. The mechanics of relocating her and reuniting her with her family in Johnstone Strait sparked an unprecedented level of cooperation and altruism among U.S. and Canadian agencies, First Nations, volunteers, and donors. Luna was discovered in Nootka Sound on the West Coast of Vancouver Island and identified as a member of a family pod based in the San Juan–Puget Sound area. Plans for his relocation were abandoned amid escalating levels of tension, distrust, and antagonism among the parties involved. Luna was killed by a boat propeller in 2006.

The stories of these two rescue attempts make gripping reading. Gil Hewlett was involved in both operations through his work with the Vancouver Aquarium’s Marine Mammal Rescue Centre, and knew the other participants. His recorded interviews with 86 of them during and after the incidents are the sources that give these stories such immediacy and personal appeal. With award-winning author-historian Daniel Francis, he sets the drama of these two high-profile operations into the ongoing work of marine mammal rescue and research. The book is dedicated to the late Dr. Michael Bigg, whose groundbreaking studies of killer whales enabled the identification of the two orphans and their family pods, as well as revealing the true nature of these intelligent, playful, and highly social creatures.