Ted Griffin (orca capturer)

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Ted Griffin
Born
Edward Irving Griffin

(1935-11-22) November 22, 1935 (age 88)
Tacoma, Washington, USA
NationalityAmerican
EducationColorado College
Occupation(s)Aquarium owner, entrepreneur
EmployerSeattle Marine Aquarium (1962–1972)
Known forCapturing, performing with, and selling orcas in the 1960s and 1970s

Edward Irving "Ted" Griffin (born November 22, 1935) is an American former aquarium owner and entrepreneur who was the first man to ever swim with a killer whale in a public exhibition, with the whale named Namu.[1] He is best known for capturing, performing with, and selling a number of orcas during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Orcas

Encounter with Moby Doll

When the first ever successful feeding of a captive orca occurred, coincidentally or not Griffin was present. He was curious when the rival Vancouver Aquarium succeeded in capturing and keeping a killer whale alive in captivity for the first time. He drove his runabout with his wife from Puget Sound to Vancouver on September 9, 1964 to take a look. This juvenile orca named Moby Doll had not been fed successfully after being captured on July 16. After that, "the captive whale fasted 54 days"[2] and "became very noticeably thinner."[3] Compared to orcas in the wild, Moby Doll appeared to Griffin to be "gaunt and lethargic."[4]

On that same day, the feeding breakthrough occurred. Aquarium director Murray Newman gave the credit for the first feeding to Allan Williams, a lawyer and chairman of the West Vancouver Parks Commission, with Griffin following him.[5] Griffin gives a different, more intriguing version of events, in which the hand-feeding the aquarium had been afraid of trying was initiated by himself.

"He noticed several live lingcod that aquarium staff had tied to strings," which was their cautious approach to feeding the orca. "He cut one fish loose and held it by the head, slapping its body on the water." The whale went up to him and took the fish out of his hand. Griffin's gesture "may have sparked recognition in the little whale," as it was closer to the style of prey-sharing characteristic of killer whale society.[4]

The daily newspapers did not report in detail why Moby Doll's behavior changed. His main chronicler, the Vancouver Sun, only observed that, "Moby Doll finally got really hungry."[6] It was evident in the following days, however, that aquarium staff had radically altered their approach to feeding the killer whale. And on the 14th, assistant curator Vince Penfold "simply held out each of 23 fish as Moby swam by...she opened her mouth and he dropped them in."[7] When Murray Newman and Pat McGeer later wrote their scientific paper about Moby Doll, their description of his regular feeding behavior sounded like Griffin's.[8] They also stated that after September 9, the killer whale "was fed by hand," except that on that day, "the whale was first observed to devour a fish suspended on a line" - the old method.[9]

Irrespective of who was first or second, Griffin's experience of feeding Moby Doll was electrifying. It was a sign that a childhood dream of his could come true.[5] He later wrote, "I wanted Moby Doll so much I considered stealing her."[10] Indeed, the encounter made Griffin even more determined to have his own killer whale.[11]

Namu

Main article: Namu (orca)

In June 1965, salmon fisherman William Lechkobit had set up a fishing net in the offing of the small cannery town of Namu, British Columbia. An anchor snapped off, causing the net to drift to another bay, where it trapped an orca. When he went to reclaim his missing net, Lechkobit was surprised to discover the captive animal, as orcas do not typically jump over nets. Lechkobit returned to port and decided to sell what he had inadvertently trapped. Lechkobit called Vancouver Aquarium to make a deal and stipulated a payment of $10,000 in cash. The aquarium could not comply as all of the banks were closed. The Seattle Marine Aquarium was then contacted and Ted Griffin purchased the orca for $8,000. Reguald "Curly" Marinas designed a cage to tow the orca, named Namu, 450 miles (720 km) in a floating pen to captivity in Seattle.[12][13]

Seattle Marine Aquarium

Griffin owned the

southern resident orca population. When activists attempted to cut the nets, four animals drowned, included three calves. Griffin and Goldsberry attempted to conceal the deaths by weighting and sinking the bodies, but months later the carcasses washed up. This operation also resulted in the capture of the orca Lolita, who died in captivity in Miami on August 18, 2023, and has been subject of petitions and legal actions to retire her to more natural life conditions.[17]

Withdrawal from aquatic work

In May 1972, in response to rising regulation, Griffin retired from orca capture and sold his portion of the Seattle Marine Aquarium to Goldsberry, who soon after sold it to SeaWorld. In 1982 Griffin published Namu, Quest for the Killer Whale, an account of his time with Namu and the transformation of public views of killer whales.[18]

References

  1. PBS Frontline Online, "Edward 'Ted' Griffin, .The Life and Adventures of a Man Who Caught Killer Whales
    "
  2. ^ Newman and McGeer, p. 68
  3. ^ Newman and McGeer, p. 64
  4. ^ a b Colby, p. 64
  5. ^ a b Leiren-Young, p. 89
  6. ^ "Moby Doll Eats". Vancouver Sun. 1964-09-10.
  7. ^ "Moby Doll Comes to Heel, And Takes a Healthy Meal". Vancouver Sun. 1964-09-15.
  8. ^ Newman and McGeer, p. 62
  9. ^ Newman and McGeer, p. 61
  10. ^ Griffin, Namu, p. 67 quoted in Colby, p. 65
  11. ^ Colby, p. 65
  12. ^ WGBH Frontline: "Edward 'Ted' Griffin, The Life and Adventures of a Man Who Caught Killer Whales". Accessed 28 March 2008
  13. ^ Whitehead, Eric, "Conversation-starved Killer In A Salmon Net" Sports Illustrated 1965 July 12. Accessed 6 May 2020.
  14. ^ M. L. Lyke, "Granny's Struggle: A black and white gold rush is on", Seattle P-I, Wednesday, October 11, 2006 Accessed 27 March 2008
  15. ^ "Orca captivity" at the dolphinproject.org
  16. ^ Lacitis, Erik, Remembering Namu: An Ex-Hunter Looks Back, No Regrets In His Wake, The Seattle Times 1997 November 23.
  17. ^ "Make a Splash: Free Lolita!". Animal Legal Defense Fund. Archived from the original on 2013-07-12.
  18. ISBN 978-0-943482-00-2

General references
  • Newman, Murray; McGeer, Patrick (Summer 1966). "The Capture and Care of a Killer Whale, Orcinus orca, in British Columbia". Zoologica. 51 (2).
    New York Zoological Society
    : 59–70.

External links
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