Orca: How We Came to Know and Love the Ocean's Greatest Predator (2018) is a superb book, written by Canadian university professor Jason M. Colby. I read a review of this book via Zoo Grapevine & International Zoo News magazine, in which Tim Brown gave high praise to the publication. I immediately ordered a copy, and thanks to the wonders of Amazon Prime it arrived on my doorstep the next evening. The book begins with a history of Orcas/Killer Whales in the Pacific Northwest region of the world, primarily in and around the Salish Sea. The term 'Salish' comes from the Indigenous peoples of the area and it's a relatively recent geographical name change. The book then has a tremendous number of details on the rise of the Orca capture business, which essentially fills the bulk of the remaining text. Readers learn all about how Orcas were feared pests that were shot on sight, with at one point a temporary machine gun being installed to ward off pods of Killer Whales. There is a lot of information on Ted Griffin, who caught Orcas for a living and radically altered perspectives on the creatures by swimming with one in captivity. That single event, with Ted Griffin swimming alongside Namu, was a watershed moment in the history of the species. Even for someone such as myself, who lives in the Pacific Northwest, it was fantastic to read about the now defunct Seattle Marine Aquarium (Seattle, WA) and Sealand of the Pacific (Victoria, BC), a couple of aquariums that were heavily involved in the Orca capture business and I never visited either of them. Who knew that the Japanese Village and Deer Park (Buena Park, CA) once held an Orca in 1971? I'd never even heard of that long-closed facility and it certainly doesn't sound like a place where one would go to view captive marine mammals! Vancouver Aquarium and its original director, Murray Newman, are also prominent figures in the book, along with Bob Wright (owner of Sealand) and many scientists, biologists and conservation officers. There is an entire chapter on Chimo, the white Orca who lived at Sealand of the Pacific before dying in 1972, and of course later in the book SeaWorld plays a major role in terms of presenting Orcas in captivity to an eager public. There are several chapters in regards to rounding up Killer Whales in ocean pens and then selecting specific individuals for aquariums and theme parks, a part of the book that is at times difficult to read due to the methods of capture. Quite often boats would chase and harass the Orcas, and in the early days crude harpoons would be used that would often result in the death of the animals. Later, the most common technique would be to chase a pod of Orcas into a bay, with up to 100 animals trapped in a small area, and then vast nets would be placed in the water. The Orcas would be hesitant to leave their family members behind and it was relatively easy to corral the animals as if they were cattle into desired locations. Then it would be a matter of separating the chosen creatures from their pods and tossing nets over their backs. The final chapter, 'The Legacy of Capture', has many of the people involved in the capture of Orcas from the wild now looking back and feeling remorse at what was done. The author's father worked at both Sealand of the Pacific and Seattle Marine Aquarium, and he helped catch Orcas back in the days of the 1960s and 1970s when it seemed as if everything was done via trial and error. The author recognizes that perspectives have obviously shifted over the past half-century, but he does state on many occasions that captive Orcas helped change opinions. "The knowledge and interest generated by captivity became ever more critical to the struggle to protect Killer Whales". It really is a terrific book that is 314 pages in length and with approximately 40 black-and-white photos/maps throughout. There is an additional 60 pages of notes and bibliographic entries, surely an indication of the depth of research that went into the book. On a side note, Killing Keiko: The True Story of Free Willy's Return to the Wild (2014), by Mark Simmons, is another excellent Orca-themed publication that looks specifically at a single Killer Whale and the disaster that occurred when activists desired a release back into the wild.
I would fully endorse this enthusiastic review - this is one of the most interesting, and best-written, zoo-related books I have read. Excellent stuff!
