As I stood on the ramp at the Vancouver Aquarium I quickly snapped a series of photos of young Finna and Bjossa below me in their holding pool. A crowd of people watched the killer whales as Hyak, the huge male, was about to join the two new arrivals from Iceland. Were we doing the right thing? Would Hyak attack the others?

We were not sure. Hyak was the resident animal. He had lived in the Aquarium pool for over 10 years. It was his pool. He might tear the new ones apart. We knew that happened in other territorial animals and generally speaking we were always careful to bring in large animals last, after the small ones were fully adjusted. But, in this case, it was hard for us to do this not enough whale pools. Our system was not as versatile in 1981. I had gone to Iceland with Jeremy Fitzgibbon, professional diver and experienced member of my Vancouver Aquarium staff.

We had a veterinarian and a couple of other people with us. Finna and Bjossa had been caught by Icelandic fishermen in November, 1980 and we flew them back to Vancouver in December of that year. They were probably three or four years old.They were moved from the research pool at the back of the Aquarium in slings and lowered into the holding pool which was connected by a gate to the main whale pool. Now Hyak was watching them through the net gate. He watched their every movement. Bjossa was alarmed and slapped her tail, splashing Hyak, but not causing him to pull back. Klaus Michaelis, the chief trainer, pulled open the gate and Hyak swam directly into the small pool while the little whales cowered at the far side. We were all terribly anxious, not knowing what would happen next.

The three whales all swam around slowly, examining each other, vocalizing in their bird-like calls and then Hyak swam back out into the big pool. Everything was fine but the small whales did not follow Hyak out into the big pool. For several weeks they remained where they were, being occasionally visited by Hyak. Finally Klaus decided to edge them out into the big pool with a net, which we did and they gradually adjusted to this system and to Hyak and to Klaus and his staff. Training began, and soon Finna and Bjossa wereas well trained as Hyak. A new social structure had been established, one in which Bjossa has been kept, generally in good health and very busy for over 20 years.

She has been a magnificent performer in the Aquarium, has entertained and enlightened millions of people.

Unfortunately both Hyak and Finna died prematurely and it has been decided to send Bjossa to Sea World in California where she can live with other killer whales. She is a social animal and needs members of her own species.

All animals live within a social structure of some kind whereby they learn to live with each other within a familiar environment. They have a home range and some develop territories which they defend.

Killer whales adapt quickly to aquarium life which is simpler than life in the wild. Structure imposes rules which help the individual to survive. The rules in nature are very severe and hard to learn. Mistakes can be fatal. When an animal doesn't have a social structure, when it doesn't know its way around, it is very vulnerable and may die from one cause or another. This is the situation of an animal that has lived with humans and then is suddenly released into the wild. It suddenly is alone and exposed and does not know which way to go or what to do. This is the condition that Keiko, the famous movie killer whale that starred in the movie "Free Willie", has found himself in.

Keiko lived as a juvenile in the sea around Iceland. He was captured by Icelandic fisherman who sold him and he ultimately ended up in a small pool in Mexico City's Chapultapec Park. After he starred in the production of "Free Willie", a foundation was established to improve his living conditions by transferring him to a larger and better pool in Oregon, then flying him back to Iceland for release into the ocean.

As I understand it, Keiko would prefer to live with humans where he is fed regularly and protected. He does not wish to join other whales and to have to hunt for his own breakfast, lunch and dinner. Keiko is now in a large pen in an ocean cove in Iceland. He is looked after all the time at a cost of US $250,000 per month.

He must be fed by hand since he has always been fed that way and, although he swims freely out into the ocean behind a boat, he has never been observed to capture live food from the wild.

Adapting to life in an aquarium seems to be easier for a young whale than is adapting to life in the wild by a mature whale. Nature is a dangerous and complicated place even for wild animals. A few years ago I encountered a stranded killer whale that was dying on a beach on the west coast of Vancouver Island. It made a fatal mistake by coming into very shallow water on a falling tide and then was trapped.

The foundation responsible for Keiko had as its mission to release the whale in the ocean near where it was originally captured. The whale, however, had been brought up with humans, knew only aquarium life and is not interested in forming a wild pod even though it has followed the foundation's boat many miles into the ocean and has come into contact with wild whales. Keiko is a tame whale, not a wild whale and has the bad habit of spending too much time near the surface begging for food and exposing himself to unbelievably harsh environmental conditions.

Now, Vancouver's killer whale, Bjossa, is going to Californiato San Diego. Bjossa will be going to a large poolin fact a complex of large poolsall interconnected at Sea World and inhabited by many killer whales, most of whom came originally from Icelandic waters or are descendents from Icelandic whales. It will be a good situation for this social animal that has not lived with other killer whales for awhile. It will be too bad for Vancouver, however, because Bjossa and previous killer whales in the Vancouver Aquarium have been a wonderful attraction for the people of this city. Now there will not be any killer whales to be seen in aquariums in British Columbia.

"So what?" you may ask, "Killer whales should not be in aquariums in the first place. They should be left alone in the wild where by can be happy."

Well, the odd part about all of this is that killer whales adjust very well to life in aquariums. The aquarium with its pool, pool mates, keepers and human activity, becomes the social structure of the whales. They adjust surprisingly well to very small pools and restricted conditions. That has been a significant part of their problem with humans in the last few decades. Every aquarist with a small pool thought he could keep a killer whale.

Up until the 1960s it was assumed that killer whales were predatory animals too dangerous to keep in captivity. Their attacks on great whales were well known and there were many stories of them ripping flesh off other marine mammals. They might attack people.

In 1964 we organized a collecting trip to Saturna Island with Sam Burich and Joe Bower and captured the first live killer whale. Its name became "Moby Doll". No one had ever seen one up close and in captivity before we brought it into Vancouver Harbour that beautiful summer. Vince Penfold Vancouver Aquarium's curator then, obtained Canadian navy underwater listening equipment and revealed killer whale vocalization patterns for the first time. Scientists were amazed. People came from all over the world to observe this animal. For the first time people realized the killer whale is just a very large dolphin behaving much like other dolphins.Although some killer whales may be killers of other marine mammals at sea, in aquariums they are athletic performers that respond well to humans, just like dolphins. After Moby Doll, every aquarium in the world wanted one or two or three whales. People in boats were chasing them up and down the coast, netting, haranguing and capturing them.

Fortunately all this was stopped and killer whales are no longer available for purchase and shipment. It should be remembered, however, that before the Vancouver Aquarium captured that first live killer whale, the Government of Canada, in response to the fishing industry was prepared to machine gun the killer whales in Johnstone Strait and to reduce their numbers as they had reduced the number of seals and sea lions. Before the Aquarium started exhibiting these animals they was no appreciation for them and no desire to conserve them. For over 30 years the Aquarium has maintained live killer whales that have been seen by millions of people and have been studied by hundreds of thousands of school children. The Aquarium's involvement with killer whales has been seen and read about internationally since 1964. Over this period, public appreciation for these animals has gradually grown into a love for them and a desire to protect them throughout the waters of the Pacific Northwest. Most of the scientists and conservationists who have studied killer whales in these waters have been associated with the Vancouver Aquarium in one way or another. The Aquarium's whales became ambassadors for their species. Even the opponents of keeping killer whales in captivity had the Vancouver Aquarium killer whale as the basis of their activities.

Now we are saying "Farewell and God bless" to our last killer whale, Bjossa. We hope and believe she will be well taken care of by Sea World. And we do hope she will not be released into the harsh conditions of the North Atlantic wild.

To release into the wild a killer whale that has lived most of its life in an aquarium is like taking your dog out in the woods and saying "Goodbye, old friend. You have been a good dog. Here is your freedom. Have a nice time. Don't come back".It may seem like a good idea, but in reality it would be cruel and would not work.

We hope also that people will continue to be kind to the wild populations of Orcinus orca and that governments will continue to protect them in the absence of their Aquarium ambassadors, for Bjossa, their last ambassador will be sunningherself in California, never to return.