View source for Penn Cove orca captures

[[File:Penn Cove, Whidbey Island.jpg|alt=Penn Cove, Whidbey Island, Washington|thumb|Penn Cove, Whidbey Island, Washington]]
The '''Penn Cove orca captures,''' which took place in the waters off Whidbey Island in 1970 were a dark chapter in the history of the [[Orca - Orcinus orca|orcas]]. The captures involved the live capture of orcas, also known as killer whales, for use in theme parks and aquariums around the world.

The first capture at Penn Cove had taken place in 1965, when a young [[Orca - Orcinus orca|orca]] was captured off the coast of California and sold to a theme park in San Diego. The success of this capture sparked a rush to capture more orcas, and soon, a network of capture boats and holding facilities was established to capture and transport orcas.

On August, 8 1970 a group of orcas were spotted in Penn Cove, a calm inlet on the eastern shore of Whidbey Island. The orcas were a pod of southern resident killer whales, a genetically distinct population of orcas that inhabit the waters of the Pacific Northwest. At the time the southern resident population was relatively unknown and there were no laws or regulations governing their capture.

A team of capture boats quickly descended on the pod, using nets and explosives to herd the orcas into a small area of the cove. 

The captured orcas were loaded onto trucks and transported to holding facilities in Seattle and Vancouver, where they were trained and prepared for their new lives in captivity at theme parks and aquariums around the world. The captures were met with outrage from local residents and conservationists, who saw the [[Orca - Orcinus orca|orcas]] as an iconic symbol of the Pacific Northwest and were appalled by the cruelty of the capture methods.