Moby Doll - orca

Sex: Male

Length: 4.6m

Weight: 2,700 kg

Pod: Southern Residents (J pod)

Location of capture: Saturna Island, British Columbia, Canada

Date of capture: 16th July 1964

Age at capture: Approx. 5 years

Date of death: 9th October 1964

Location of death: Burrard Drydocks, Vancouver

Cause of death: combination of the skin disease and drowning

Commissioned by the Vancouver Aquarium, sculptor Samuel Burich was to create a life-sized model based on an actual orca for the Aquarium’s new British Columbia Hall. He was instructed to first, find and kill an orca.

A harpoon gun was set up on Saturna Island in British Columbia’s Gulf Islands. After two months of waiting, on July 16, 1964, a pod of 13 orcas was seen approaching the shore. Burich took the opportunity to harpoon a young whale within the pod, but the whale did not die.

It appeared to be stunned by the force, and was held up to the surface by two pod members until it regained itself and began to trash about, trying to get away from the harpooner. Burich tried to kill the whale by firing several shots from a rifle, but it still did not die. Instead, the 4.5 meter long, 1 ton whale was towed back to Vancouver, 16 hours “through choppy seas and blinding squalls.”

She was placed in a makeshift pen at Burrard Drydocks, where she became the first captive killer whale to be displayed in a public exhibit. The Vancouver Aquarium held a contest to name the whale, and chose the name Moby Doll.

Scientists, researchers, and many spectators flocked to Vancouver to see Moby Doll, but she was listless in her pen, and did not eat for 2 months. Observers claimed that she seemed to be in shock and refused everything she was given, from Salmon to horse hearts. Instead, she spent her time circling the pen day and night.

"The whale seemed to be suffering from shock...For a long time, Moby Doll...would not eat. He was offered everything from salmon to horse hearts, but the whale only circled the pool night and day in a counterclockwise pattern."

After 55 days in her pen, Moby Doll was offered some lingcod, and took it, proceeding to consume about 110 pounds of cod that day.

However, due to how little was known about killer whales at the time, Moby Doll’s handler’s failed to realise that the low salinity of the harbor water had led the whale to develop a skin disease.

A month later, after being held in captivity for 88 days, Moby Doll died due to a combination of the skin disease and drowning. Her autopsy revealed that Moby Doll was actually a young male. Moby Doll’s death was chronicled by newspapers all over the world, and he received some of the first positive press regarding Killer Whales. This signified a major change in the public opinion toward orcas.

See also

• List of living captive orcas

• List of deceased captive orcas

• Lists of captive animals