Luna (L98)
From Freepedia
Luna (L98) is a young male orca that was born into the Southern Resident community in British Columbia, Canada and Washington, USA, in the year 1999. Born into the L1 pod, L2 matriline, consisting of matriarch Grace (L2), Orcan (L39), Gaia (L78), Wavewalker (L88) and mother Splash (L67), there was at first confusion as to who Luna's mother really was.
On September 19, 1999, Luna was born. His mother, Splash, was seen alone, and then for the next week, he traveled with Kiska (K18), a female in another pod. However, it was cleared up when, after that, he was seen at Splash's side constantly. A Seattle newspaper held a contest that ended with Luna being named Luna, the Latin term for moon.
In June-July 2001, when Luna was around two years old, he disappeared from his pod. His uncle died at that time, and many people think that Luna was accompanying his uncle away from the pod when Orcan died, leaving Luna lost and alone. After Luna did not reappear, he was declared dead.
In July 2001, however, Luna was found alone in Nootka Sound. He was identified and named Tsux'iit by the Mowachaht/Muchalaht people of the area, after their late chief, who had said he wished to return as a killer whale.
From January-July 2002, however, everyone's attention was diverted from Luna. Another orphan calf had turned up, Springer (A73). Springer soon became the center of attention that year.
Soon, word began to leak out about the lone whale in Nootka Sound. Tourists arrived in droves at Gold River, a nearby town. Luna began to get too interested in boats, and started to cause disturbances. He also ended up with some minor injuries, probably from collission with boats. Some people were fined for disturbing the whale.
On June 15, 2004, the DFO began to try to lure Luna into a floating pen, to try to rehabilitate him like Springer had been. However, the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nation was opposed to this, and successfully distracted Luna and lured him away from the pen every time, until finally on June 24, the DFO gave up.
The DFO and Mowachaht/Muchalaht met several times during 2004, until finally agreeing to jointly run the Luna Stewardship Program, to try to keep Luna out of trouble.
Luna has now survived four years alone in Nootka Sound. A stewardship program is tentatively planned for 2005. However, while Luna can obviously survive by himself, he may become a danger to boats and people — if he remains in Nootka Sound, a full-grown, over-interested orca could pose a threat.
