It's hardly black and white

"There was a lot of emotion that day. We were feeling scared for our wellbeing and for the whale's well-being. Our singers were crying while they were singing." Before the net could be raised to close him in fully, Luna swam free and took refuge among the canoes. "That's how we lured him out of the pen," Johnson reflects, "we just sang our hearts out." Realizing the tribe was resolute, the DFO conceded defeat.

Many observers ridiculed the Muchalaht band for thwarting an effort to reunite the whale with its pod. "We've never been opposed to Luna finding his family or being with his family. That's a misconception," counters tribal Chief Mike Macquinna. "If there is anything that the elders in our nation have expressed, it's that we stand by the whale." Macquinna says that if Luna's pod ventures near the mouth of Nootka Sound, the tribe will not interfere. "If he goes, he goes. If he stays, that's fine. It's just a matter of nature taking its course."

Luna remains free in Nootka, loved by some, hated by others. Over the summer, he became an increasing nuisance, and fishermen stepped up the death threats. One angler even suggested dynamite.

"There's a lot of tough talk out there, and we take it very seriously," acknowledges Shaw. "If you intentionally harm this animal or harm this animal, period, there are severe repercussions."

With tensions escalating and captivity or the whale's death as likely scenarios, writer Parfit and his wife, Suzanne Chisholm, submitted a controversial proposal to the DFO. They suggested giving Luna a kind of "foster pod" of select boats to manage him with structured and consistent human interaction. The goal would be to eliminate the haphazard encounters and distract the orca away from fishermen until his pod might eventually swim by Nootka Sound.

"If you can get a system in place that takes care of public safety and Luna's safety on a regular, full-time basis," reasons Parfit, "then aquariums are distanced from the whale. You don't have that looming possibility, and you don't have the looming possibility of his being shot, either."

Parfit and Chisholm also proposed using acoustic stimulation to occupy Luna, an idea that some independent marine scientists have advocated. This would entail generating underwater sounds to engage Luna and diminish his fixation on people and boats. Some marine mammal experts have also suggested that acoustic stimulation could possibly be used as a vehicle to lead Luna back to his pod, if and when the whales are in the vicinity of Nootka Sound. Frohoff is adamant. "Plans for a lead-out should have been undertaken long ago. Without trying something like this, DFO is setting Luna up for failure."