Founded in 1996 in hopes of reuniting one killer whale with her wild cousins, the Orca Conservancy today is focused on preserving the endangered population of Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKW) that frequent the waters around Seattle and Vancouver part of the year. It's this steadfast mission to prevent the SRKW from extinction that put the Orca Conservancy at odds recently with a well-publicized plan by the Whale Sanctuary Project to build in SRKW waters, a permanent whale holding facility for orcas of mostly Icelandic descent that were born and currently reside in zoos and aquariums. 

Orca Conservancy president Shari Tarantino describes the organization's work to save the SRKW by also preserving the endangered chinook salmon, as well as restoring the river and ocean habitats that both species depend upon for their survival.

This episode's honest and at times difficult conversation between an anti-captivity leader and a former orca trainer and podcast host shows their perspectives have much in common, especially when it comes to saving SRKW and restoring healthy marine ecosystems.

1:20  History of Orca Conservancy. Reuniting Lolita/Tokitae.

31:00 The OC blog post heard round the marine mammal world

1:03:30 That Sounds Wild

That Sounds Wild: Killer Whale vocal imitation.  Courtesy www.SeaWorld.com  and Hubbs Research. (Crance, J.L., A.E. Bowles, and A. Garver. 2014.  Evidence for vocal learning in juvenile male killer whales, Orcinus orca, from an adventitious cross-socializing experiment.  Journal of Experimental Biology 217: 1229-1237.) 

 

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