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Lorna Mills and Sally McKay
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This killer whale has been hanging out at Gold River in Nootka Sound (Vancouver Island) since 2001, bumping boats and socialising with humans. The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans wants to reunite "Luna" with his pod. The local Mowachaht-Muchalaht First Nation want to let "Tsux'iit" make up his own mind about what to do next. The two groups have come to a very nifty agreement, which basically involves letting the whale hang out if the Mowachaht-Muchalaht agree to keep an eye on it (with some financial support and emergency backup from DFO). The story is back in the news (today's Globe and Mail) because the contract is up for renewal, and the Mowachaht-Muchalaht want to leave the whale alone for at least another seaon. According to their website:
The whale appeared in Nootka Sound in the summer of 2001, soon after the Mowachaht/Muchalaht lost a great leader, Ambrose Maquinna. Chief Maquinna said he would return to this world as a killer whale. The Mowachaht/Muchalaht believe the young whale carries his spirit and has, for now, chosen Nootka Sound for his home. To the Mowachaht-Muchalaht, killer whales are the guardians of the laws of the sea, and their choices should be respected.There is a potlatch next November to honour Chief Maquinna, and the natives want to let Luna hang around at least til then. The reincarnation angle has more emotional clout than simply suggesting "let's just go with whatever the whale wants to do" (which would work for me), and probably accounts in large part for the DFO's willingness to compromise thus far.
I got mad today, however, because according to the papers, PUBLIC SAFETY is stated as the main reason the DFO wants to remove the whale from the bay. Granted, the whale is pretty boisterous and keeps bumping into people's boats and wrecking private property. But really now, how hypocritical can we imperialist friggin' human beings get?! BC is all about wilderness tourism. Snowboarders and skiers break their legs, freeze their ears, and become engulfed by landslides; hikers sprain their ankles, contract sunstroke, and, get mauled by grizzlies; surfers drown, and get sand-rash. Can the threat of somebody getting injured by this one whale really be such a pressing issue? People's properties --boats in the marina--have been getting damaged, and other whales have been returned to their pods (with varying degrees of success). The cachet of cutting-edge marine biology holds a certain sway in west coast culture, and of course there is no more famous rally cry for white environmentalists than "save the whales" (never mind that they're mostly already full of PCBs and chased around by flocks of tourists in zodiacs all day). I'm sure there are more reasons, but the sum of the parts is essentially this: the global economic model, with its who's-in-and-who's-out hegemony is moving along nicely and we, who incidentally benefit the most, are moving along with it. Your so-called radical big ideas are all very well, but unfortunately, they pose a THREAT TO PUBLIC SAFETY. grrrrr.
In my recent web puttering I came across a few First Nations oriented forums that mention the issue. I like very much what Immortal Thunder had to say in response to an impassioned plea to the effect that the issue is besmirching the First Nations in the eyes of just about everyone and they should back off:
These misinformed ecologists and animal rights groups should blame DFO and eco-tourism outfits, for promoting the public observation and interaction with wild life, as a commercial venture and a form of entertainment. The situation that endangers the lives of the curious and uniformed was created by them not the native people.