In Febuary of 1967, a female orca, later named Skana, was captured from K pod in Washington, USA. In the Haida tribe of British Columbia, the name Skana means "killer demon" or "supernatural power." Skana is also known as walter. Nice name for a FEMALE! Dr. Paul did research on her, and she seemed very curious and intelligent. His attitude towards the killer whale began to change in 1969. He finnally decided to observe them in there natural enviornment. Him and his family went to alert bay to look for the whales. As opposed to free orcas, he said, Skana appeared to be lonely and bored, and her tank was small. Everytime he went to Vancouver he spoke with the Aquarium director to try to get him to release Skana. The director opposed the idea, saying, it would be irresponsible of the aquarium to release her after so many years in captivity. When asked whether an x- captive whale could survive in the wild, he responded simply saying, that it would have no trouble capturing its own fish. He said she might take a couple of weeks to adjust, but could live off her body fat in the meantime. Spong suggested the idea of a "gradual release" program, and he would stay with Skana until she was adjusted. The aquarium opposed this idea also. Spong admits that it is very unlikely that any aquarium would release any of there already captive whales. They attract all custumers. They are the main money makers. Skana died at the Vancouver aquarium in October of 1980. Spong was outraged at what happened to her body: she was sent to a meat proccesting plant, and used as dog food. She didnt deserve that. She was torn from her family and put in a concrete fishbowl and forced to perform dumb tricks. And for what? Its money. Greed. If we hadn't taken her from her home, she might still be alive and swimming free to this day. We will never know.
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