Zoo History: Before There Was Shamu...

"Orcas (the appearance of which no image can express, other than an enormous mass of savage flesh with teeth) are the enemy of [other whales]...  They charge and pierce them like warships ramming."

- Pliny the Elder

"Millions around the world simply knew in their hearts that orcas had to be saved from captivity.  What they didn't realize was that, decades earlier, captivity may have saved the world's orcas."

- Jason M. Colby, Orca: How We Came to Know and Love the Ocean's Greatest Predator

Any discussion of cetaceans living under human care inevitably circles back to the elephant (or, in this case, whale) in the room - Blackfish, the documentary/propaganda piece (depending on where you are standing) that has resulted in widespread criticism of SeaWorld and its practices of keeping and displaying orcas. Those who oppose the park emotionally cite the intelligence and majesty and family life of the orca, claiming that no marine park can provide these animals with the care that they need.  Which is ironic, really... because until SeaWorld and other marine parks came along, the public perception of the orca was very different.

Our history with Orcinus orca extends far past the opening of the first SeaWorld, and it was not a mutually beneficial one.  A lot of people know that the alternative name for this species is "killer whale", but fewer know that it was originally "whale killer."  Orcas were despised as ravenous killing machines that would slaughter any animal in their path, often cruelly and bloodily.  They were accused on attacks on humans (albeit with poor documentation), including one case where a pod tried to tip an ice floe and spill some sled dogs into the sea.  More damningly, they were accused of harming fishermen by "stealing" their catches and were persecuted accordingly.  The persecution of killer whales wasn't just tolerated by the governments of North America and northern Europe - it was actively abated.  The US Navy waged war against the whales, killing them with machine guns and depth charges.

So low was the public opinion of the orca that, when the Vancouver Aquarium commissioned a hunter to kill a wild orca to turn into an educational biofact back in 1964, no one objected.  A sculptor named Samuel Burich set off in pursuit of an orca to use as a model, eventually harpooning one.  The plan changed when the orca opted not to die.

Vancouver Aquarium's Vince Penfold records Moby Doll's vocalizations in 1964 (Vancouver Aquarium)

After consulting with the aquarium's founder and director, Murray Newman, Burich brought the whale back to Vancouver.  It failed to thrive, especially at first.  Part of this was a result of the trauma and stress it had just endured.  Part of it was that no one knew even the basics of how to care for an orca in an aquarium.  It took months just to get the animal - a fifteen foot male - to eat.  At the time, it was assumed that orcas only took warm-blooded prey, such as whales and seals, whereas many of the pods off the Pacific northwest feed on fishes.  Eventually, the whale began to feed.  His keepers dubbed him (originally believed to be a "her") Moby Doll.

Moby was only the second orca ever kept under human care, and the first - a female named "Wanda" lived for only a single day.  Everyone assumed that Moby would be a monster.  They envisioned him lunging and keepers and trying to drag them to a watery death.  They were wrong.  Instead, the whale proved to be gentle (especially considering what it had been through) and receptive to the attentions of its caretakers.  His stint at the aquarium provided scientists with some of the first up-close observations of an orca.

Gradually, Moby became famous and visitors from far and wide flocked for a visit.  That, in turn, generated some of the first ever positive press for one of the ocean's most hated animals.  The chance to see an orca up close and personal (in an admittedly unsuitable environment) changed people's impressions about the animal, especially when they saw that they are not inherently vicious or "evil" creatures.

Moby Doll lived only for a few months, but the public fascination with orcas began.  Soon, several collecting crews were out catching orcas for marine parks around the world.  Eventually, this resulted in lifespans of several decades being achieved, as well as the first ever captive-breeding of the species.  Scientists from around the globe have studied these orcas to obtain data that has been applied to the conservation of wild populations.  It's doubtful that the money and passion for saving wild orcas would have come to fruition at all if public attitudes about the species had not changed, largely on account of Moby Doll... as well as the whale that came after him.

In 1965, the Seattle Marine Aquarium obtained a male orca named "Namu," named for the town of British Columbia near where his capture occurred.  Unlike Moby, his capture was deliberate for an aquarium exhibit, and as such he was in much better physical condition when he arrived in Seattle.  Shortly afterwards, a female orca was obtained as a companion.  She was given a name in a First Nations language that translated as "Friend of Namu" - "Shamu."

The two whales ended up not being compatible, so she was later leased to another marine park, this one in San Diego, California.  That park is called SeaWorld.