It was now that the Southern Residents of BC/Washington were hit hardest. No one knew anything about orcas then, so we didn't know how close families were or who the Southern Residents even were.
The first major capture happened in 1967. The entire K-Pod was trapped. Three whales drowned. Five were captured and sold. One of these, Skana, became the star attraction at the Vancouver Aquarium, starting their orca legacy. She died 13.5 years later. Another, Ramu, became the longest-lived orca in captivity at the time, surviving 15 years at SeaWorld Florida. Kilroy, going to SeaWorld California, lived 11 and a half years. Kandu joined Kilroy there, but died after 2 years. Katy, the last, was sent to Seattle, where she died three months later.
The next year, another capture brought two more whales into captivity. Lupa, a young female, became New York's only captive orca. She died 7 months later. Hugo, a young male, went to Miami Seaquarium, where he died 12 years later.
More and more captures happened. 1968 was a particularly devastating year. Five whales were taken: Ahab, Mamuk and Cuddles lived for five and a half years each. Ishmael escaped-who knows what happened to him? Haida, one of the most famous orcas of his time, lived 14 years.
The next year, two whales, Ramu 2 and an unnamed whale, were captured. Ramu 2 lived one year. In early 1970, another whale was taken.
Then, in August 1970, and unprecedented capture took place. Over 80 whales, the entire Southern Resident community, were trapped in a bay. Mothers and calves were separated. Four calves, desperately trying to reunite with their mothers, charged the nets. They got tangled and began to drown. One mother, trying to save her baby, also got caught in the net. All five whales drowned. While reporters found out about the female, the four babies were covered up. Their bellies were slit and filled with rocks, and their tails were weighted with anchors.
Meanwhile, eight young whales had been taken from the brutal capture. One (Winston) lived 15 years. The other six (Lil Nooka, Jumbo, Chappy, Ramu 4, Whale and Clovis) all died under five years later. One of them, Lolita, is still alive.
The captures continued in Washington until an entire generation had been taken from the Southern Residents. We know of no whales born between the years of 1967 and 1970, that are in the wild today. At least 10 whales, that we know of, died during these captures. An entire generation was taken.
How many are alive today? One. Lolita, at Miami Seaquarium, is alone in her survival.
Above; Scajaw and her daughter, the amazing white whale Chimo, during the capture, from the book Orca-The Whale Called Killer, by Erich Hoyt.
In 1970, Bob Wright, owner of Sealand, found something he'd been looking for the entire time he was in the orca trade: a white orca. Wright, ecstatic, sent his unprepared team after the whale. They sent the entire pod, of five orcas, into Pedder Bay and netted it off. And they became the Pedder Bay Five. After a harrowing night, for both the distressed whales and the frantic humans, who were using loose nets that were practically non-existent, light came and revealed the five whales still there...including the miraculous white one. The interesting thing was, the entire family was deformed in some way. The big male orca had a face deformity, where his lower jaw came up over his upper jaw; this deformity earned him the name Charlie Chin. One of the mature cows, most likely Charlie's mom, had a very pointed rostrum, and was called Pointednose Cow, or Pono for short. Years later, her name was changed to Florencia. The other mature cow's face looked like she had, as one captor said, hit the bottom high-speed. Her name became Scarredjaw Cow, or Scajaw for short. Florencia's probable daughter, probably the most normal-looking of the bunch, would later become the first Knootka (Nootka). Finally, there was the prize: the white orca, probably Scajaw's daughter, a rather skittish young juvenile called Chimo, Inuit for welcome. The whales lived in the nets for almost a month, before the two younger orcas were removed. Chimo and Knootka were both moved to Sealand Victoria.
It is important to note, at this point, no one understood the specialized diets and lifestyles of orcas. No one realized that all of the Pedder Bay Five were transients, meaning that they don't eat fish! This was why they had been refusing to eat; they weren't being stubborn, they didn't realize the fish they were being offered was food! At Sealand Victoria, Haida, the resident whale, forced the fish through the nets that separated them, into Chimo and Knootka's mouths. Soon after, the confused whales began to eat steadily. Unfortunately, captivity clearly didn't agree with Knootka. She began to harass her cousin Chimo, until she was sold and moved to another park, eventually ending up at Sea World California, where she died 20 years later in March 1990. Chimo, meant to be a mate for Haida, became one of the most famous whales in the world. Sadly, her fame was short-lived. The little-known disease, Chediak-Higashi Syndrome, that made her partially albino, also made her suceptible to disease. Chediak-Higashi syndrome had made Chimo high-strung and hyper, and easily spooked: once she charged out of the three nets at Pedder Bay and then ripped back through them into the enclosure with barely any effort! On November 2, 1972, she died of infection. She was autopsied right next to Haida's enclosure.
Above; Charlie Chin (bottom) shows off his deformed jaw while a human hand interests Florencia, or Pointednose Cow (above), scanned from Transients: Mammal-Eating Killer Whales, by John Ford and Graeme Ellis.
Meanwhile, back in Pedder Bay, the remaining three whales weren't eating. Charlie Chin at first was interested in the keepers that were watching them, who were beginning to feel guilty, but Scajaw stayed far away from them, and Florencia seemed indifferent. The trainers got barely one glimpse at Scajaw's deformed face during the months she was there. The whales passed Moby Doll's record fast easily. They were so hungry, you could see their ribs, a rather amazing feat for an orca. After 75 days of not eating, Scajaw began to swim slowly around the nets, crashing into logs, gulping water. She was clearly dehydrated. Suddenly she charged full-steam at the nets, going through half-way through, up to her dorsal fin. She didn't have the strength to go any further. The trainers frantically tried to cut her loose, but finally attempted to push her backwards into the enclosure. Scajaw simply went backwards, opened her mouth, sank to the bottom and died. While this was happening, Florencia floated motionless in the middle of the enclosure. Charlie was circling, and then, before Scajaw died, he vocalized with the cow. When she did die, he rushed over, grabbed the net in his teeth and began to yank it. The trainers smacked him on the head, and finally he let go and continued circling.
Stuck with deciding what to do with Scajaw, the keepers towed her out into the water and let her sink.
A few days after Scajaw's death, Florencia had become very sunburned. A salmon was brought out for the (mammal-eating) whales, and was held out for the whales. Suddenly Charlie Chin just grabbed it and went over to his mom and started vocalizing. They both took the salmon in their mouths and carried it around the enclosure together, vocalizing. Then they ripped it in half and they each ate a half. Charlie came back, got another salmon, and gave it to Florencia to eat. Finally, he came back and ate one himself. After that, they began to eat up to 250 pounds of fish a day.
Charlie, who was going to be released because of his size, was sold to a Texas marine park to replace Scajaw. But before either of the whales were moved, on October 27, 1970, someone threw weights over the nets and released the whales. No one, to this day, figured out who it was.
Charlie and Florencia went back to normal transient behavior. Florencia had many children, and Charlie disappeared and reappeared a few times. Many trainers quit during and after the Pedder Bay Five capture.
Pedder Bay was used once more, resulting in the capture of 6 whales. After that, everyone noticed the caution with which the whales treated the Bay-they were nervous and pretty much avoided it.
Meanwhile, up north...