In June 1965, William Lechkobit discovered a 22-foot (6.7m) male orca in his floating salmon net that had drifted close to shore near
Namu, British Columbia. The orca was sold for $8,000 to
Ted Griffin, owner of the
Seattle Marine Aquarium; it ultimately cost Griffin much more to transport Namu south to
Seattle. While in captivity, Namu ate 400 pounds of salmon a day. Namu was a popular attraction at the Seattle Marine Aquarium, and Griffin soon captured a female orca to be a companion for Namu. The female, named
Shamu, was quickly leased and eventually sold to
SeaWorld in
San Diego. Namu survived just over one year in
captivity and died on July 9, 1966. Griffin expressed mixed feelings when Namu died, saying he wished Namu had succeeded in a supposed "break for freedom" which had resulted in his death. The
necropsy actually evidenced that he had been ill with an "acute bacterial infection, likely contracted from sewage runoff in
Elliott Bay" where Griffin had moved him. Nevertheless, thousands of local fans wanted Griffin to obtain another orca as did aquariums all over the world. It was later discovered through preserved recordings of his calls that Namu was from C1 Pod, one of the best known northern resident orca pods in British Columbia. He was thus given the alphanumeric code C11. It is suspected that the matriarch, C5, who died in 1995, was his mother. As of February 2010, Namu's presumed sister Koeye (C10) is still alive. The
United Artists film
Namu, the Killer Whale (a.k.a.
Namu, My Best Friend) was released in 1966 and 'starred' Namu in a fictional story set in the
San Juan Islands. The name "Namu" was also later used as a show-name for different orcas in SeaWorld shows. == See also ==