Richard K. Stroud and his killer whale on deck of "Lynann" at Morro Bay.
February 12, 1966
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife came to Morro Bay to study the Alaskan fur seal. Using true 1960′s logic it involved killing seals and harpooning an orca.
GPS tracking devices could only be imagined and research techniques decidedly more destructive then. The arrival of the “Lynann” was covered in an earlier post. This story was published on Valentine’s day.
The story was unbylined, photo by Jack Wilson.
Weighed 2 1/2 tons
Killer whale harpooned outside Morro’s Harbor
MORRO BAY — A 2 1/2-ton killer whale was harpooned outside the harbor here Saturday afternoon, a violent episode in the preparation of a U.S. “Kinsey Report” on the sex life of the Alaskan fur seal.
The wale was one of a pod (pack) of sic of these vicious, though strikingly beautiful predators ranging at the time not far offshore between Point Buchon and Morro Rock.
The sleek, black and white specimen and his bully buddies had the misfortune of sharing the course of the whaling ship “Lynann” on its way into port for the weekend to escape rough weather at sea.
The “Lynann” and her sister whaling ship, the “Pribilof,” are presently engaged off the Central Coast by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in conduct of an Alaskan fur seal survey mission.
Richard K. Stroud of Portland, Ore. is the chief marine biologist aboard and the “Dr. Kinsey” of the fur seal operation at sea.
He is gathering evidence on the life and mating behavior of the Alaskan fur seal for the U. S. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, Marine Mammal Biological Laboratory at Seattle Wash., and the killer whale figures importantly in this picture Stroud says.
These whales prey on warm blooded sea animals, other whales, the Alaskan fur seal and the sea otter. While not generally regarded as man-eaters, Stroud doubts that a swimmer would find one of these fellows very friendly.
This one measured 20 feet and 8 inches, a bull with a heavily worn, though fully serviceable set of interlocking peg teeth.
Sunday morning the sea outside had calmed and the “Lynann” left port to resume her patrol of the wintering ground of the Alaskan fur seal between Point Conception and the Faralon Islands west of the Golden Gate.
Stroud and his fellow biologists aboard planned to butcher their killer whale Sunday while far out at sea. They will take note of the stomach content, possibly a number of fur seals, though Stroud believes these whales have been pursuing the gray whales presently migrating south off the Central Coast.
The skull and other vital organs of this whale will go into the freezer of the sister whaling ship for eventual delivery to the laboratory in Seattle.
Stroud says the mission being conducted offshore is under terms of the international treaty drawn up in 1911 and revised in 1957 between the U.S., Russia, Japan and Canada to protect the Alaskan fur seal facing extinction at the time.
This treaty banned the practice of “pelagic sealing” (taking seals at sea).
As revised in 1957, pelagic sealing for research purposes is allowed with the findings of this research to be shared by all treaty parties.
Most of the seals wintering off the California coast are female and young bulls, while Russia and Japan report that the wintering herd off Asian shores is marked by a greater number of older bulls.
The reason for this separation of the herd is not fully understood and this is one of the riddles Stroud and his men hope to resolve during the course of this survey concerned with the birth rate, feeding habits, distributions, sex ratio and herd composition.
Stroud and his two aids aboard, Roger Paul and David Harcomb, are all graduates of the Oregon State University in fisheries science, Stroud’s field being marine mammals.
The killer whale taken Saturday was spotted by Lloyd Newton, skipper of the “Lynann” while approaching Morro Rock at 11:50 a.m. The kill was made an hour later.
A member of the porpoise family, the killer whale hunts in packs, exercising fully his keen sense of hearing, sight and possibly an ability to communicate Stroud says.
We now know whales and dolphins communicate and are intelligent. The first captive killer whales were taken in the 1960′s but until humans figured out how to care for them they only survived a few days to a few months. Normally males live into their 30s and females into their 50s though they can live longer.
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In other news on the page, LSD is about to be outlawed and smash and grab robbers made off with over $3,000 of camera equipment from Cal Photo. They were not smart bandits, they took the cheap stuff and left the more expensive lenses.
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Geesh! What a bunch of ignorant (the word I mean to say, I can’t)! They are officially called Orca now. They live in Pods, not packs. They actually eat fish more than anything else and hunt these by netting them with bubbles that contain the fish closer and closer in an ever-tightening trap maintained by several animals at once and then all the pod feed in a large group all at once.
And yes, I live in the Northwest and I have seen how pods operate and I have also seen Wily swim in his giant tank until they removed him to Norway where he quickly died after giving him his freedom.
It’s too bad Lloyd Newton didn’t fall from his boat into the pod itself and then found himself not only NOT eaten but probably helped back to the boat to be rescued. What a clown!
Steven,
Yes, they were ignorant. The definition of the word being “uninformed, unknowing, untrained, etc.” and the knowledge you profess was gained by their ignorant acts. Before you condemn them, consider that what they were doing would have been considered what we now call “conventional wisdom”. Forty-four years of hindsight is 20/10. And consider also that a lot of what is happening in our world today that is “conventional wisdom” will be looked upon as folly as well. History is what it is. A record of the past. Sure, there have been acts of madness and pure evil that were recognized as such when they happened, but others, such as this story were not. We should certainly learn from the past, and not repeat the mistakes made, but to denounce those who committed acts out of ignorance as “*^%$” or clowns is unfair. Lloyd Newton, if he is still with us, probably recognizes his error now, but given the time period in which it happened, he would probably tell you he would not have done it any other way.
We did a story a few years back on scientists capturing sea otters and implanting tracking devices. The procedure was done under veterinary care and the animals were very much alive when they were released a short time later. A captive sea otter is an angry force of nature, not cute at all, but they seemed fine as they ran into the water.
A similar device using 1960′s technology could only be implanted in a submarine.
I couldn’t care less about your opinion of me, Mr. Dunlap.
Hi Steven & Joe,
This blog has been a fun project and I really appreciate it when folks share their thoughts here.
Many readers, including both of you, have added their expertise in the form of over 1,200 comments. Often readers have a special insight into the stories shared here.
Unfortunately writing does not always carry the writer’s intangible vocal inflection or facial expressions. What could be a normal conversation can turn into something more heated.
That is why I have been so aggressive in trying to maintain a civil conversation here.
We can and do disagree, the first amendment is a beautiful thing. However personalizing an argument to my mind restricts the free flow of ideas to only those willing to enter a brawl.
You may both be fine with the tone of the conversation and it might be good for page view numbers to have a good juicy controversy started up.
I hope we can all leave this virtual home at the end of the day and feel like we are welcome to come home again the next.