Documentary The Whale

You learned some facts about the orcas from last time. When you see orcas in the news, you see that they are very dangerous, and you should not be around them. What you don't know is that most of the problems came from Sea World issues. You hear that orcas have killed trainers over time, but what the media does not mention is that there is no record of orcas attacking humans in the wild. In an article, Why Killer Whales Don’t Eat People: Where Science and Legend Meet, it discusses a little bit about why orcas do not attack humans in the wild. In Sea World, the orcas do not simply attack humans for food but when your in a "bathtub" for most of your life, you tend to get a little crazy and that is how the orcas feel.

A great example of an orca not attacking humans in the wild is the documentary, The Whale. The orca that is in the video was just a young orca. The orca was a male named Luna and it was separated from its pod. Normally orcas are very social and must stay with their families especially if they are young. There are different types of orcas and Luna was known as a Resident orca which meant they only eat fish. Luna surprising lived about 4 years with the people of Nootka Sound. They interacted with him by petting him, and even talking to him. Although he was never reunited with his pod, Luna made a family with the town. The people and Luna played together and sometimes it seemed that Luna even helped out with some of the logger workers. Luna would even let the people pet his tongue! How incredible is that. Humans and orcas side by side and not in a contained "bathtub." There was no issues besides what other people had ideas for.

As time went on, some people that really did not welcome Luna became very concerned for his safety and thought it would be best to not interact with him because Luna might hurt himself with one of the boats. Yes, some people started to believe that same idea but orcas cannot live without socialization. Luna would try his best to meet people and those people knew it was hard to push him away.

Sea World started to get involved and claimed that they would return Luna to his family but the natives of the land decided to make their own plans. They had a calling that told them that Sea World should not take Luna. After much planning and having Luna stay away from Sea World, the towns people were able to keep Luna away from Sea World but then charges would come about. Up to 1,000 dollars of fines if people would interact with Luna. It was heartbreaking for people and Luna. Eventually, there were only few people who would interact with Luna only to make sure he was safe from accidentally hurting himself. The documentary is great for all ages which teaches us that not only do we need to respect the wild life but to know that our species can be safe with each other. It is a great emotional experience and it tells of a wonderful life this young orca had without the life in a "bathtub."

Just the Facts

When you think of some kind of sea animal what do you think of? I think of Killer Whales or another name Orcas (Orcinus orca). They are in fact not whale but dolphins, the largest in the family. Since I was a kid, I have always loved Orcas. They are black and white hence the name Sea Panda. They have white bellies and black on top. They also have white spots just above their eyes. I used to think the white spots were their eyes but that is not the case. They may look mean and scary but that is just how they are suppose to look like for when they hunt. They are very big. They can be as long a school bus and weigh up to 6 tons!


Orcas are very family oriented. there has been research that a baby will stay with its mother for all its life. They have been known to be in a family with at least 40 other killer whales. These group of Orcas are called Pods. The pods use effective skills in order to get food. They work together and communicate with each other. Each pod has its own specific language. Some other researches shows that one pod near Japan can completely different that say a pod on the West Coast of the United States.

My idea of the Orcas has changed now that I am not that young, naive girl I once was. I do NOT want to see them in Sea World or in any kind of captivity. They belong in the ocean, wild and free. I hope to someday that the Orcas will be free and not for some kind of entertainment.