4 ways Moby Doll changed how we think about orcas

July 16, 2014 markedthe 50th anniversary of the capture ofMobyDoll, the firstorcaever caught in B.C. for display.

In 1964, the Vancouver Aquarium had wanted to kill what wasviewed as a vicious predatorto study its brain and use its body as a model for a large sculpture.

But after their harpoon hit the animal and it didn't die, the crew had a change of heart and brought Moby Doll to shore. The orcalived in a pen at Jericho Beach for three months before he died.

Richard Blagborne helped create the Saturna Island Heritage Centre where the skull of Moby Doll is on display.

He spoke toRick Cluffon CBC Radio's The Early Editionabout how he believes Moby Dollchanged the way we think about orcas forever:

1. We no longer see them as monsters

A CBCbroadcast from 1964 referred to Moby Doll as a "dangerous monster."

"You can tell from the tone of [the CBC broadcast], this 'five-tonne killer monster' was the prevailing attitude at that time," says Blagborne, "There was very little understanding ofwhat orcas really were all about."

2. We don't hunt whales in B.C.

"There were over 880 whales commercially harvested that year, so British Columbianswere still looking at them as a resource," he says. "Killer whales they called them blackfish."

3. We came to love them

"Even the guy who fired the gun, Sam Burich, he ended up sitting on a raft, playing his harmonica to Moby," Blagbornesays.

4. We don't believe there are thousands of them

"They thought there were thousands of [orcas], and that they were going to deplete all the fish," he says. "The young fellow who helped Dr. McGeerdo the autopsy [ofMoby Doll] went on to become the biology graduate who went to work for Fisheries to actually find out how many there were."

"That wasMichael Bigg, and his remarkable work proved in a short [amount] of time, using his photographic identity system, that there weren't thousands of them. In fact, there were only about 300 on the coast."

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