The following is carried over from Orca Network;

The Center for Whale Research has shared the results of their 2010 summer Orca Survey, with the sad news that we have lost 3 adult orcas and one calf this year.

Missing and presumed dead are:
L114, new calf born to L77 in February 2010, missing when the whales returned in June.
L73/Flash, a male born in 1986, missing summer 2010 (male in above photo).
L74/Saanich, a male also born in 1986, missing summer 2010.
K11/Georgia, a female estimated to be born in 1933, last observed in May 2010.

This brings the population of the Southern Resident orca community to about 87 individuals. J pod has 28 members; K pod has 19; and L pod has 40, including (approximately):
~9 post-reproductive females (over 40 years old)
~25 adult females (12-40 years old)
~19 mature or adolescent males (over 12 years old)
~21 juveniles (5-12 years old)
~13 calves (0-4 years old)

Visit Orca Network’s website for a List of recent births and deaths, and read more about these missing whales, and the birth of L115, the newest member of the Southern Resident Community, on Chris Dunagan’s Watching Our Water Ways blog on the Kitsap Sun website.

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From a personal perspective, it is sad to see the departure of these whales. Each year I am experiencing what it’s like to become more familiar with and then loose that familiarity with these orcas. I suppose it’s part of the life and death process but in my opinion they seem to die too young.

Here is a photo of L74/Saanich I took in 2005, please feel free to download for personal use;

Please enjoy the slide show of when L74/Saanich paraded for all to see sporting kelp on his dorsal fin

(Thank you for the link http://pugetsound.org/blog/bl100827, I came across it by “fluke” no pun intended)

Quite simply put, it’s a sacred encounter. Perhaps we may be mesmerized by them (orcas) and their closeness to us, to the shoreline and to the earth itself but why are they doing this? Some whales in some places in the pacific north west are known to rub on the soft pebbles near the shoreline. This is more common up at the top of Vancouver Island. At first one is completely taken away by the animals themselves and wants to relive the experience over and over, it’s very powerful and makes us return for more. However, what is it about these rocks that attract them? Lately I decided to pay a bit more attention to them. I have usually carried around with me some rubbing stones in my pockets and during the events of my traveling home from Mexico through my ordeal, relied on them for grounding and stress relief. When I returned back to the coast and to the rubbing beach, I interacted more with it then I had in the past, and more so in my mind. I feel there is a healing mechanism at work here but I don’t understand scientifically why, I am not a scientist nor do I need to be one to understand that their healing effects are working, I just feel they are. Perhaps there is more that I can do with this to better my life and my work.

Recently when I returned from the rubbing beach (I had not seen whales rub this time) I was told I looked younger, softer and rejuvenated. Was it the air? Was it escaping to a place where people, cars, technology and products didn’t exist? Was it camping and sleeping in the clean outside air? Was it the beach and spending the many hours interacting with the stones? Perhaps it was all of the above… But the rocks I can take those with me We can share the experience to help others reach a place of healing. Our planet needs much healing an we need to start by healing ourselves.

This perspective feels important and I want to share with you how I feel about it. I hope you too will find the topic interesting. This is truly a grounding exercise for us all; whale and human alike. I need to thank these whales for bringing my attention to this.

Please check out the “rocks” page to know more about this. This is a project under development right now.

Here is the excerpt taken from the Orca Live website stating the sighting;

“CetaceaLab reports that a large group of northern resident whales were nearby yesterday (June 15). The group included the A5s, A24s, A34s, Cs and Ds. The A36s were also there along with A12. This is the second sighting of the A36s with A12. Sadly, it looks as if A32 (Cracroft) is now gone as he was not seen during either encounter. He will be missed very much. On another track, Paul is off to the IWC. The meeting is being held in Agadir, Morocco this year. We have set up a blog on www.orcalab.org (link at the top right) so that he will be able to post summaries and comments during the meeting. It is a crucial year for the IWC and for whales. The threat to resume commercial whaling is a very real possibility.
Helena
16 Jun 2010 08:27:59 PDT”

Also, check out this great video from last summer of the 3 Brothers produced by Rachael Griffin

Right now the “Get out migration” for wild salmon is underway. Kudos to friends Troy and Kate who are marching from Malcolm Island on behalf of wild salmon. This initiative is lead by Alexandra Morton, a biologist who has worked for years to bring the attention of wild salmon health and how (open pen) fish farms are impacting them. Ultimately, people have often shied away from the topic because it’s one that requires a bit of research to understand how the impacts are unfolding, hence her many years of work on the topic.

In 2009, I attended a Hazardous Waste class at University of  Victoria and was given the opportunity to examine this controversial topic a bit more. We were given a law assignment to address and in that I took Alexandra Morton’s perspective and examined current legislation. We found that our government is responsible for protecting the health of wild salmon, and is failing in doing so. With that, we must put pressure onto government to uphold this law and the people’s awareness is needed for this. For this exercise, we also had to interact with the opposition and in my case had the opportunity to interact with a fish farm employee who was also attending the course. It was an intense and interesting experience, and gave me some first hand experience on the topic while exercising legislation to defend the case.

Our assignments were reviewed by a judge and I was given some awesome feedback and encouragement which made me feel proud. At the very least it gives me the opportunity to talk about the topic at a very important time. You can see part of my assignment here. I am by no means an academic on this stuff but I did take the initiative to explore the topic while we were studying hazardous waste topics and fish farms came up as one. Through this I feel I have been given a small opportunity to do “something” on the topic. Here is another article I wrote while attending a law class in 2005; commenting on the topic of law and science; Era of Jurisciences

Funny how the topic follows us here to the Mexican Caribbean though, while people are starting to learn about such things and they feel that farmed fish is the way to preserve the wild populations. However people are unaware of the open net pen problems occurring right now. This effects everyone, everywhere.

You can learn more about the science and the efforts by going to this website; http://www.salmonaresacred.org. Please check the itinerary to know when the migration will head through your area, go down and show your support. They are due to arrive in Victoria tomorrow and will be there for Mothers Day.

Remember that wild salmon are a major part of our resident orca populations diet. They are also the main food source for many other wild animals, the trees, First Nations communities and for us. We depend on wild salmon for the health of our planet… Consider them the blood that runs through your veins. Without it, we die.

Somethings you can do to immediately help our wild salmon;

• Don’t purchase or eat (open seapen) farmed salmon
• Limit your intake of wild salmon
• Choose greener house hold cleaners
• Sign the petition

Also read this great article by David Suzuki Foundation

“If you’re a fish eater, I recommend that you seek out and purchase this sustainably produced Coho salmon and help create a demand that enables closed system salmon producers to grow and profit from a great idea”

This website is a dream come true project for me and want to make your dreams come true too. There for, it is my dream to see Jason’s wish come true. I’d like to gather support that a future Southern Resident orca be named after him; Jason.

I found this little clip and thought that I would include it the blog post. It’s very short, but very sweet. There will be a small gathering held for Jason this coming Saturday (June 5, 2010) in California and was invited to attend. Unfortunately I am in Mexico until the end of June and will be unable to go but will be there in spirit.

Photos from 2 of our 3 visits in Victoria (usually overlapping a full moon)

I am not sure what has happened to my (vegabond/naturalist) friend Jason Sneed but he has been reported as “missing”. He disappeared at the end of March while living in Hawaii. All his personal belongings were left behind at a friends house. It is thought that he’d gone for a swim but never returned. I don’t want to assume anything about his situation but I am concerned. I hope to see him back in the pacific northwest this summer. I hope he is well and just on a solo journey where he couldn’t bring his things.

I met Jason through facebook, through a mutual group about marine mammals. Jason and I met several times while he was visiting Canada. We had a wonderful and magical connection. Jason was a very multi-dimensional man and really enjoyed sharing perspectives on our spiritual experiences. We shared many hours of conversation around the topics of orcas, stories of Luna, tales of Mexico, and discussions of the universe and all it’s magic. We spent many hours talking along the Victoria shoreline, walking Dallas road while looking for orcas. He was very passionate about the welfare of the Salish Sea and in the Mayan culture. He was also training himself in new ways of survival, as we do need new ways to adapt to our world. He often stated things that made me stop to think differently. He was also hoping to come here, around this time, to the Riviera Maya and get to know this part of the world.

Hope to see you again amigo!

He signed his emails with this;

In La Kesh – “I am another you” or “I am another yourself”. (Mayan)

http://www.consynpro.com – Jasons personal website

Family offers reward in man’s vanishing

Gather here to share information, thoughts, feelings, and happenings about our friend Jason

Added May 1, 2010

I am not sure if we will ever see him again, or get to know what happened to him. At that point it will remain a mystery to us all. I just hope that you are not, did not suffer and that you are in a better place now.

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Some parties believed that interacting with Luna would lead to his death, while others believed that interacting would save him. The truth is that Luna received tons of love and affection from many people through the duration of his life, with or without supervision. During my involvement there in 2003, only two of us at a time were on scene, and had to intervene Luna from pushing a float plane rudder around. That means, that the plane has no control over steerage as Luna’s pushing it from behind. And for a moment, imagine you are sitting on that plane under power… how would you feel, a bit scared? Now imagine that only you and one other are around to intervene with that situation. Not quite a walk in the park with your dog!. (And you might want to know that, that day it was move the animal away from the plane or deal with a whale being shot. We know that we saved his life that day.) And so we were instructed to interact with him to protect his life.

Luna was already accustomed to people by the time we arrived in 2003. The previous year, stewardship did what they could to encourage people to leave Luna be as it was best for his survival as a wild whale. This was determined not by those monitoring him but by a larger group of people – those of scientific background. Irregardless of what you personally think is best for Luna, many measures were tried and in the end, he died. It seems easy for those people just now becoming aware of his situation to point fingers, curse and blame various parties for his death and I have even seen people wishing death on others for his death. There obviously needs to be more education in this department, so this is where I am coming in.

In the end, he died alone, where no one could save, see or even salvage his remains. He took the mystery with him, leaving us to ponder what it was all about. For me, this is an ultimate lesson in nature and ultimately the universe, and that sometimes no matter how hard we try, we cannot control the outcome. We simply do not know what is best for Luna. Luna was the only one truly in charge of himself. Many of those involved who are taking much blame from the public worked tirelessly around the clock and out of their pockets to see him survive. I urge you to go and try this sometime yourselves before making such negative comments to others about their “failed” efforts as you may see them.

What is more important here, is not what we should have, or should not have done, but that we did try and that we all loved Luna (well most of us). I have been following behind comments on the internet landing on my media and others, to try to help people understand the situation better, from different eyes because it really was very difficult and impossible to control. I ended up in the situation as a volunteer because i’d had a dream I saw a whale interacting with people at a dock and followed up with documentation. I am a dream-tracker and followed behind other dreams also including Luna, that came true. See my Story “Luna Love” for more about that (still in progress). In the process I was thrown into the most difficult and traumatic experience of my life.

To all those people damming the “Do Gooders” or “Whale Police” from “stopping” affection with Luna, think again, does it look like that was a success??? Luna always had affection and interactions with people and there was nothing anyone could have done about that (like that or not), as you probably already know. Some of us were simply the mechanics of a much larger operation, and we took the beatings, we took the name callings, we took the brunt of the dirty work because we cared and loved Luna. And what did we get back in return? More accusations from more people who unfortunately are unable to open their minds and understand the very complex situation we were involved in. Through this I have seen a very ugly side of humanity. But I have also seen a beautiful side, and this is what motivates me to write this.

There is nothing I resent doing. Sometimes I wonder if I’d really missed out on something by not physically touching Luna, but remind myself that I was touched in my soul in a way very few will ever know and that has made all the pain and suffering worthwhile. He was my dream come true. I hope my grandchildren tell their children some day about my story, and understand that legends are real. Luna was a Chief and a prophecy and I got to know this first hand. Thank you and I love you Luna. <3

I would like to point out that 3 events, one discussing the “lively hood” of orcas, one discussing the “spirituality” of orcas, and one of the “physicality” of orcas are playing out all through the power of technology. Body, mind and soul. This is most definitely a communicative event between orcas and humans on the topic of interactivity. What is the message? From my perspective, the message is that we as a species need to learn and to listen to other species in a new way. The topic of orcas has been dominating the media for a few days now while the tragic death of the trainer continues to baffle people world wide. The anti-captivity movement is mobilized and pushing their message with force – to help free captive orcas and end the future of captivity. Luna continues to break and take hearts while our Southern Residents future seems uncertain while holding us in that same grip. I would like to point out that their (SRKW) numbers were critically reduced when the capture era removed a large number of orcas for marine parks, and many died in the process and their population has never recovered. See Orca Network for more on this. Ironically, marine parks use the excuse that because their numbers are endangered in the wild and that they swim free in a toxic world, that they need to be preserved in marine parks for future generations. This would not be the case for our SRKW, if the population had not been so devastatingly disturbed in the first place. None the less, all of these three events are directly connected and are actively playing out at once.

So WHAT is going on? It most definitely has many people’s attention. For years I have had dreams and visions about orcas… many that have come true and I know many other people are experiencing this but are remaining hush hush about it because we have conditioned ourselves into thinking that that can’t really be the case, that we are crazy or that others will think we are crazy. In that process our species completely undermines the intelligence of other species . But it all brings my attention to a much bigger question; what are they telling us? Are they telling us something? Or have we completely gone insane? I would like to know what you are thinking? It’s time our species deflated from an illusive egotistical and arrogant state and pay attention to the universal language. I started to feel something around this topic many years ago and embarked on my own investigation starting in 1997 which has lead me here. We are in an important time in the history of this planet as many things are calling for our attention, please pay attention and respond mindfully… I am going to call this moment the “Orca Alignment”. For me, it’s an obvious moment in my history that cannot be ignored.

Friday, October 29, 2004 (Canada)
Orca Dream – Transformation

I will write this down before it fades.

I dreamed I was on an island near shore when I saw a pod of orca passing. I ran along side with my camera (typical of me) to get some footage of them. As I turned around the bend the pod got closer and one individual came towards shore. Rather then being a baby this time it seemed to be an almost full grown male… As the animal got closer, he transformed into a man, who then walked towards me. He was a young native man, seemed very happy and smiled the whole time. He came towards me and asked me to go with him however I was shocked and confused. I followed the man into what felt like a tunnel, almost underwater however it felt like we were in an air bubble and there were many others (indigenous looking) there too.

It was very compelling and the first time an orca has emerged into a human being before my eyes.

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Friday, March 10, 2006 (Mexico)
Luna Dies

Very sad news…
Our friend Luna has died apparently struck by a tugboat at 9am this morning.

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Tuesday, March 14, 2006 (Mexico)
La Sonrisa

He smiled at her, and then she tingled all over while thinking I’ve seen that face before…

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She dreamed of him, and then he came true… Was it destiny? Stay tuned…

A journey that started in 1998 and came full circle in 2009

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