The Lost Whale
The True Story of an Orca Named Luna
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
The heartbreaking and true story of a lonely orca named Luna who befriended humans in Nootka Sound, off the coast of Vancouver Island by Michael Parfit and Suzanne Chisholm.
One summer in Nootka Sound on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, a young killer whale called Luna got separated from his pod. Like humans, orcas are highly social and depend on their families, but Luna found himself desperately alone. So he tried to make contact with people. He begged for attention at boats and docks. He looked soulfully into people's eyes. He wanted to have his tongue rubbed. When someone whistled at him, he squeaked and whistled back. People fell in love with him, but the government decided that being friendly with Luna was bad for him, and tried to keep him away from humans. Policemen arrested people for rubbing Luna's nose. Fines were levied. Undaunted, Luna refused to give up his search for connection and people went out to meet him, like smugglers carrying friendship through the dark. But does friendship work between species? People who loved Luna couldn't agree on how to help him. Conflict came to Nootka Sound. The government built a huge net. The First Nations' members brought out their canoes. Nothing went as planned, and the ensuing events caught everyone by surprise and challenged the very nature of that special and mysterious bond we humans call friendship. The Lost Whale celebrates the life of a smart, friendly, determined, transcendent being from the sea who appeared among us like a promise out of the blue: that the greatest secrets in life are still to be discovered.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"My mind thinks in pictures long before it gets around to words," explains National Geographic writer and filmmaker Parfit. Like the documentary film version of the story (The Whale, released in 2011), the plot is a simple one: an orca whale, Luna, separated from his pod at a young age, turns to humans for social connection. After warning people not to interact too much with Luna, lest the creature become tame, Canada's Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) decided to try and reunite him with his pod. Things get complicated, and the reader, like Parfit and his wife, Chisholm, can't help but "get swept up in its turbulence." With tourists, fishermen, scientists, First Nations groups, and the DFO all squabbling, it's easy to get lost in the abundance of characters, and Parfit sometimes lapses into overly florid prose (despite the authorial double billing, the book is written in the first person from Parfit's perspective). In addition, the frequent chapter breaks seem designed to enhance the drama, unnecessarily so. Still, Luna's story brings a thorny dilemma to the table what should humanity's role toward nature be? and the book does a surprisingly good job of showing the range of emotions behind that question.