The Departed

In this column, I typically stick to observations about critters with flippers. Before I embarked on my current mission with marine mammals, however, I had a career in human suffering. I rather enjoyed my work as a mental health clinician, but the cruelty I witnessed as a case manager for Child Protective Services drove me back to nature. Man’s infinite capacity to inflict horrendous pain on other humans induced me to study orcas instead.

My former vocation always comes knocking when we endure a heinous but possibly preventable national tragedy. Satisfactory explanations for the carnage in Newtown, Aurora, Tucson, ad nauseum, will never manifest. These events are ineffable. Through our profound collective grief, we offer condolences, thoughts, prayers, and poignant tributes.

This time, are we sufficiently disgusted by the massacre of innocents? Can we pierce the nihilistic denial in our violence-obsessed society regarding gun ownership, regarding mental health treatment? Are we finally ready for transformative action and policy change?

Returning to whales -- after dusk on December 17, K Pod traveled slowly south in wind-whipped Colvos Pass. Mark Sears saw the orcas enter north Colvos four hours before we heard them on the hydrophone at Chez VHP. The orcas arrived with the evening high tide and we obtained our sixth Southern Resident recording of this season. Most vexing was the ultra-loud ferry noise masking the subdued orca vocalizations. We surmised that the engine and the prop were working harder in the stiff wind.

Mark and I are lacking solid data on a December 11 visit by the Southern Residents. In scientific terms, one public photo of a single K Pod member does not adequately document the encounter. We urge anyone with photos or sightings from the 11th to contact the VHP.

As this will be the last Dorsal Spin of 2012, I wish to acknowledge the departed in the Southern Resident Community: Raggedy (K40), Sooke (L112), Alexis (L12), Tanya (L5), Gaia (L78), and Riptide (J30). Several of these whales died prematurely, and we will not learn why they died because they simply disappeared. Little Sooke’s body has been examined intensively, but the cause of her death is still inconclusive.

Losing any Southern Resident is difficult, but I shed extra tears for Raggedy (K40) when I learned she was gone. She like Lummi (K7) was one of my special gals, among the Southern Residents I became well acquainted with 20 years ago. This week’s photo shows Raggedy on one of her final visits to Point Robinson.

Please support the work of the Vashon Hydrophone Project (VHP): REPORT LOCAL WHALE SIGHTINGS ASAP TO 463-9041, as well as sick, injured, or dead marine mammals on Island beaches. Ferry commuters, your calls matter in our research effort! Reporting directly to the VHP sustains an ongoing, accurate dataset of whale sightings for Vashon-Maury and nearby Central Puget Sound waters, initiated more than 30 years ago by researcher Mark Sears. Check for updates at Vashonorcas.org and send photos to Orca Annie at Vashonorcas@aol.com.