Open Collections

Abstract

In July 1964, two fishers, commissioned by the Vancouver Aquarium, accidentally harpooned and captured a live orca off the coast of Saturna Island in British Columbia. The orca’s, dubbed Moby Doll, subsequent short-lived life in captivity was marked by intense public curiosity and shifting debates about the value of the species. This thesis examines the cases of the first three orcas captured and/or displayed alive in British Columbia: Moby Doll, Namu, and Skana. It argues that shifts in the perception of orcas, from a nuisance species to a regional icon, were entangled in methods of extracting value from the species. These values: monetary, scientific, and nationalistic were projected onto orcas by various entities and reflected broader political currents in, firstly, WAC Bennett, then Dave Barrett’s British Columbia. As political transformations occurred in the province and more broadly, captured orcas were connected with broader resource extraction in the province as institutions, unions, individuals, and eventually conservationists sought to extract value from the species. This thesis centres Vancouver and British Columbia. By analyzing newspaper coverage, correspondence, press releases, and archival records relating particularly to the Vancouver Aquarium, this study demonstrates how the perception of value of the species shifted with capture and display