A friend of a kind, a living soul shows up at Nootka Sound, off the west coast of Vancouver Island and brings humans one step closer to humanity. I believe after reading this short story and watching the documentary, that the ideology of animals here to serve man will wash away by the arrival of this kind friend.
Some who met the playful young whale were profoundly moved by him. Journalists Michael Parfit and his wife, Suzanne Chisholm, visited Gold River British Columbia in 2004 for a short writing assignment for Smithsonian Magazine, but were so drawn to Luna that the couple ended up staying for three years. Parfit said, "A life does not have to be human to be great."
"He needed this friendship—he wanted connection. It's so powerful, that you have people from all walks of life who became dramatically engaged in caring about this single life at sea. He was interested in human beings for a social connection. Luna wanted eye contact, he wanted physical, he wanted almost this mental contact. So how can you not respond to that? We were not sort of whale-huggers. We just went there to cover a story, we were captivated by the character".
Killer whales are intensely social, and boats and people provided the companionship and physical contact that Luna would normally have received from his mother and from other whales. A Canadian federal fisheries officer said in 2003, "I don't think he realizes he's a whale. He thinks he's one of the boys."
Luna was given the name "L98" at birth according to the scientific naming conventions for resident killer whales. A Seattle newspaper held a naming contest in 2000 which resulted in L98 being given the common name Luna, Latin for moon. At the time, it was not known if Luna was male or female. The contest winner, an 8-year-old girl from Bellingham, explained, "The orca whale explores the ocean like the moon explores the Earth and that is why his/her name is Luna.
The Mowachaht/Muchalaht people of northern Vancouver Island named L98 Tsux'iit after the tribe's late Chief, Ambrose Maquinna. The Mowachaht/Muchalaht claimed that because Maquinna had declared that after his death he wished to return as an orca or a wolf, that the appearance of Luna four days after his death was symbolic and likely to be his reincarnation.
I'm going to stop here for this story will touch your heart, thanks for showing up Luna.
Video uploaded by U Tube user Mountainside Films: Saving Luna
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