Saturday, October 29th
When you watch someone struggle and there is nothing you can do...
...you hope...
...with every little bit of energy or action your hope grows, if ever so slightly.
...you call, you write, you talk to all you know...
...for that is all you can do.
...when the end comes there is tremendous sadness...
...with that sadness is the knowing that the struggle has ended...
...there is no peace for the watchers of the struggle...
...that will come in due time.
...but there is peace for the ones who struggle no more...
...Polaris J-28 is at peace now...
...she did all she could for her family and she could do no more.
...her baby's struggle to survive without mother's milk has likely ended...
...how difficult it must have been for them.
...their care givers were their family members...
...especially young Star J-46 who helped them as best as she could...
...herding fish toward mom and baby...
...taking little brother for a while to give mom a break.
So now they are gone and the family and community will adjust...
...just as we humans will as well...
...to forget and move on is just not right...
...these whales are at the mercy of our human actions...
...how long they have adjusted to what humans have done...
...clean waters became toxic,
...fish shoreline habitats destroyed,
...abundance of wild salmon killed off by dams,
...noise in the waters made it hard to hear...
...and let's not forget invasive research harming our friends.
...action must be taken and not turn our heads...
...our orca neighbors and friends deserve more...
...you love them?...
...then keep up the fight to bring back the wild salmon.
Will it be realized before it's too late...
...that restoring wild salmon is a key to it all...
...a healthy environment and healthy humans too...
...we are they and they are us.
Saturday, September 3, 2016
...a surprise call in the morning..."do you have whales?" huh?...but now I was on the lookout...just maybe some were heading my direction...
...they continued up island...others had stayed down island, so that is where that 7th whale went to...maybe...or maybe it was Kelp K-42 who was earlier porpoising to catch up to his mom and siblings...
...I had heard that the L12s were down island, but I hadn't heard of any others...after leaving the park in the late afternoon, I went down island a short distance and saw some whales...it was Polaris J-28, baby J-54 and other members of the J17 family...
Thursday, August 25th
...the day started with...
...August is usually hot, at least part of it...the worst thing in the world for salmon...and the worst thing for the whales because of the worst thing for salmon...
August 25th
...Granny was in the lead with some of the J16s - Mike J-26, Slick J-16, Scarlet J-50, and Echo J-42...with them were Hy'Shqa J-37 and her offspring, T'ilem I'nges J-49...then about 10 minutes later, Shachi J-19...
...some of the kids were not there (a group of 6) - like: Slick's other two - Alki J-36 and her offspring Sonic J-52, Hy'Shqa's brother and sister - Suttles J-40 and Se-Yi-Chn J-45, and Shachi's offspring and her offspring - Eclipse J-41 and Nova J-51...
...the group of 6 came zooming by after the J17s had come up and then had gone back down island...
...six of the J17s came up...Tahlequah J-35 and Notch J-47 had stayed down island...
...the six stayed for about 20 minutes before going back down island...
August 26th...
...the J17s and the J22s had gone up island sometime in the night because they were now coming back down island in the morning...going against a strong flood tide didn't make things any easier for them...
...they all went down island past the lighthouse, except Polaris, J-54 and Star turned and spent the next three hours in our view from shore at the lighthouse...
...it was only one day...but gave a glimmer of hope that there was a chance they both might make it...
