Luna still eluding would-be captors

Friday, June 18, 2004

By LISA STIFFLER
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

For a second day, an orca stranded on the northwest coast of Vancouver Island eluded the Canadian captors who are trying to reunite him with his Puget Sound family.

Luna followed an inflatable Canadian fisheries department boat about halfway back toward a series of underwater net pens yesterday, but stopped to eat salmon in his favorite bay, said John Nightingale, president of the Vancouver Aquarium, which is conducting the operation.

Luna remained in the bay into the evening, Nightingale said.

On Wednesday, the 4-year-old killer whale was lured out to sea and away from the net pens by local Indians in dugout canoes. The Mowachaht-Muchalaht band opposes the capture, with members convinced they share a spiritual connection with the orca.

A tribal leader said he is not trying to stop Luna from leaving his remote location in Nootka Sound, but criticized the government plan that calls for capturing the orca, trucking him more than 200 miles to Pedder Bay west of Victoria, and releasing him when members of his family, called L-pod, come near.

Since arriving in the area three years ago, Luna has become increasingly friendly toward boats and people, causing concern that he could be injured in the interaction and prompting the effort to relocate him.

The capture of the whale would be disrespectful, said Mike Maquinna, grand chief of the Mowachaht-Muchalaht. Tribal members believe the orca embodies the spirit of a chief who died around the time Luna separated from his pod and arrived in the sound.

"Some people see it as a protest," said Maquinna, who is the son of the deceased chief. "We don't. It's just some people getting in canoes and singing some songs and a whale happens to be about. We've done this for thousands of years."

Maquinna has offered to lead Luna down the coast of Vancouver Island in canoes to where his pod is.

But that plan is too dangerous, said Marilyn Joyce, marine mammal coordinator for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. The fisheries department had considered leading Luna in power boats, but abandoned the idea because of safety concerns.

Maquinna and Joyce met yesterday to try to resolve the situation.

The plan for reuniting Luna allotted up to seven days for the capture, Nightingale said.

"We're not going to sweat it yet," he said.

The Associated Press and The Sun of Bremerton contributed to this report.

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