VANCOUVER—Saving Luna is a heart-warming and tragic story of a wild baby killer whale whose creative ways of trying to make a social life for himself by relating with people drew worldwide attention.
The documentary, which opened recently in theatres across Canada, was filmed by Michael Parfit and his wife, Suzanne Chisholm. The couple first encountered Luna in 2004 while on assignment to feature the Orca in a magazine story.
Parfit and Chisholm were intrigued by the charming personality of the curious and desperately lonely killer whale, and ended up turning their three week stay into three years.
Orcas usually spend their entire lives together, but Luna somehow became separated from his family, winding up in Nootka Sound, a remote fjord on the west coast of Vancouver Island, in 2001.
Far from contact with his kin 200 miles away, he began to befriend the human population in the region, causing delight as well as concern with his habit of swimming right up to boats.
Officials, scientists, natives, and boaters all had different takes on Luna’s social activities.
The government viewed him as a potential danger, scientists discouraged any human contact with him, and fishermen considered him a pest. But others, including Parfit and Chisolm, saw Luna as a unique miraculous individual, while the local natives treasured him as the spirit of their ancestral chief.
The endearing way in which Luna searched for companionship sometimes affected human activities along Nootka Sound and raised concerns that the killer whale’s antics could be endangering his life.
At one point, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans arranged to relocate the 3,000-pound Luna and unite him with his family. Though department officials did their best to keep the plan secret, news of it soon reached the Nootka Sound First Nations, who were against moving Luna.
The natives believed that the whale belonged to the surrounding water and should be left alone.
“Scientists know the Orcas the way psychiatrists know children, in abstract detail. But the people of Nootka Sound knew Luna the way parents know a child — as a single life that has no equal, a mystery who brought joy, aggravation, and worry to those who loved him,” narrated Parfit in Saving Luna.
On the eve of the day Luna was to be captured, natives gathered near the water. The next day, paddling their canoes and singing, they led Luna away from the net that was to trap him.
Luna’s quest for companionship thus continued, his splashy peek-a-boos out of the water irresistible to those who knew and treasured him.
This was evident in the reaction of Dr. Dave Huff, a former staff veterinarian at the Vancouver Aquarium. Huff, who appeared in Saving Luna, spoke at a post-screening reception at the Vancouver Aquarium where the documentary is currently showing.
“Oh my God, this is what people have been talking about,” he said. “You want to touch him. You want to hug him. The feeling is so strong. It’s incredible that it works two ways.”
Luna died in 2006 after he swam into the propeller of a tugboat, possibly trying to make new friends.
Dr. Lance Barrett-Lennard, senior marine mammal scientist at the aquarium, said the film gave him a new understanding of animals.
“The last lines of the film really summed up what I felt that I learned from Luna, which was that he opened the door for me and my awareness of other animals that I don’t think was open before,” he said.
Saving Luna has traveled the world’s film festivals and won 17 awards and numerous nominations. For more information, see savingluna.com.
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