Global InformationYukon Harbor orca capture operation information
The Yukon Harbor orca capture operation was the first planned, deliberate trapping of a large group of orcas (killer whales). 15 southern resident orcas were trapped by Ted Griffin and his Seattle Public Aquarium party on 15 February 1967, in Yukon Harbor on the west side of Puget Sound.[1] The first four orcas that had been taken into captivity had been captured singly, and mostly opportunistically. Those four were named Wanda, Moby Doll, Namu, and Shamu—who was then the only surviving one.[2] Through them, interest in orcas had escalated.
The Yukon Harbor operation initiated the "peak cropping years" of the orca capture era in the Salish Sea, when large numbers of resident orcas were captured for sale.[3] This occurred just at the time when the global whaling industry was beginning to become problematic in its viability and in social history.
By 1967, there had been a score of attempts to capture orcas by various organizations. All of the deliberate attempts had failed, except for Ted Griffin's capture of Shamu. Many of the capture attempts had resulted in the deaths of orcas. Griffin's 1967 project was born of experiential knowledge combined with the geographical advantages of Puget Sound. His wealth of experiences led to preparations of unique equipment and methods in order to realize the deliberate capture of multiple orcas.[4][5] Nonetheless, the operation would be plagued with difficulties and vicissitudes. In particular, herding and corralling the orcas for transfer from Yukon Harbor, where 15 were trapped, to the aquarium in Seattle proved to be a long and dramatic, 17-day process, reported daily in The Seattle Times.
5 young southern resident orcas were taken into captivity. 3 of them were infants, 11-foot (3.4 m) or less. The names eventually given to the five were Kilroy, Ramu, Katy, Kandu, and Walter the Whale—later renamed Skana. The death toll was 3 orcas, Griffin's highest besides that of the 1970 Penn Cove operation. 2 orcas managed to escape from the capture nets. They were thought to be the mothers of lost calves. The remaining 5 orcas were released at the end of the operation.[6][7][8]
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ST670226p18was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Bigg, Michael A.; Wolman, Allen A. (July 1975). "Live-Capture Killer Whale (Orcinus orca) Fishery, British Columbia and Washington, 1962–73". Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada. 32 (7): 1213. doi:10.1139/f75-140.
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