The Voice of God?

Scientists believe that there is a lone baleen whale somewhere out there in the oceans of our world whose song is so low that others of its kind cannot hear it. This unique whalesong was first recorded by hydrophones in 1989 at a frequency of 51.75Hz, which is just above the lowest note on a tuba, and has been tracked many times since. The scientists say that baleen whales, such as blue, fin, and humpback, communicate with each other using sound between 12 and 25Hz, and they conclude that this whale, whom they have named 52Hz, must be all alone, without friends, or family, or a mate because it sings so low.

However, I submit that there may be another explanation: perhaps, just perhaps, we are not the only intelligent and sentient beings on this tiny blue space marble who believe in and pray to a Supreme Being; and if you are willing to suspend disbelief and accept this notion, then maybe what the hydrophones are picking up is not whalesong, but the voice of God.

Offshore Orcas Eat Sharks

In my novel, The Tempest's Roar, I wrote the following:

"Pan knew there are three types of Killer Whales that roam the seas; the first, are a noisy and sociable group who eat only fish. Man calls them Resident Orcas. The second type is reclusive and far more dangerous to other beings than sharks. This is because they eat only mammals, including other beings, in direct violation of the Fifth Commandment. These cannibals are called Transient Orcas and they are the pariahs of whalekind. Much is known among beings and man about both these types of Killer Whales. However, this is not the case with the third type of Orca, for they are a breed apart. They live far out in deep, bluewater and never interbreed with the other two types. And there is one major difference compared to the other kinds of Orcas, which is that although this third type occasionally kill and eat mammals like seals, walruses and sea lions, they never, ever eat other beings. In fact, their preferred prey are sharks. Man refers to this third kind as Offshore Orcas, and they are a fierce and noble breed best left alone by man."

As far as I knew there was no evidence to support this, however, something told me that it was true so I took poetic license and made the statement. You can imagine my surprise and delight when I read that this was indeed the case, as you can see from this excerpt from a January 17, 2011 article by Larry Pynn in the Vancouver Sun:

Headline: Orcas off B.C's coast love the taste of shark.

"A mysterious population of offshore killer whales in B.C. are specialists at killing sharks — to the detriment of their teeth — marine scientists have discovered in a landmark study.
Scientists have long known that resident killer whales depend on fish, especially salmon, and that transient killer whales exist on marine mammals such as seals and sea lions.
But the diet of offshore killer whales — first identified on the B.C. coast in 1989 — has remained largely a mystery due to their wide-ranging and distant movements."

I offer this to hopefully induce you to read The Tempest's Roar, which is available in both soft cover and as an e-book at leading on-line booksellers. I think you will find it an enjoyable read. Its central message is to highlight the damage mankind is doing to the oceans and, in particular, to enlist support for all save the whales organizations. To that end I will donate any and all royalties that I receive from the sales of this book to these organizations up to the first $10,000 I receive, and possibly even far beyond that. So please buy the book.

A Simple Coincidence?

It is disheartening to note that over the past two months, forty-eight dolphins of all ages have been found dead on the beaches of the northern Gulf of Mexico, from Louisiana to the Florida panhandle. Tragically, twenty-nine of these were fetal-size calves, which compares to two of these 'unusual mortality' events during an entire normal year.

State and federal officials and marine scientists have been quick to point out it is too soon to link this tragic occurrence to the BP oil spill. It is appropriate that they should take such an objective approach, and indeed it may be nothing more than a simple coincidence...just like the purported link between cigarettes and cancer, cell phones and brain tumors, crack cocaine and crime, CEO salaries and employee layoffs and a host of other connections that industry mouthpieces continue to deny. That said, sadly there is nothing we can do about it. The oil residue and toxins are out there in those once lovely waters where they will remain for years, and possibly decades, to come.

Meanwhile, BP's profits in the 4th Quarter of 2010 jumped by 30% and the London-based company has announced that it is resuming dividend payouts again for the first time since the oil spill. And while corporate executives and BP shareholders celebrate, baby dolphins will continue to die...

Plus que ça change...

Plus que ça change, plus que c'est la même chose - the more things change the more they stay the same.

Hi there...I'm back. It's been nearly nine months since I last posted on this blog but I have decided to start again. My love of whales and dolphins, and my anger and sadness at the way we treat them, has brought me back to speak out on their behalf.

Sadly,a quick survey of the headlines shows me that very little has changed since I left, to wit:

SeaWorld continues to deny that keeping Orcas trapped in tiny concrete tanks is cruel and unusual punishment, and the root cause of numerous attacks on trainers that have occurred there and elsewhere over the years; and now they are seeking to have a Federal judge seal forever from the public eye the testimony of experts in the investigation of the fatal attack that occurred one year ago this week in Orlando. If they are so sure of their position, what are they afraid of?

The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society is taking credit for the Japanese cutting short this year's whaling operations in the Southern Ocean, as perhaps they should. However, if anyone thinks that this is the end of whaling by the Japanese they are sadly mistaken. It was never about the whale meat. It is about what they see as an assault on their culture and they will be back. Count on it...

Some blue crab fisherman in Florida butchered the carcass of a Pygmy Sperm Whale that washed ashore. He said he planned to eat it. Perhaps if there is reincarnation, he will come back as a sea lion pup in South Africa's Shark Ally when the Great Whites are feeding...

An aquarium in Hong Kong plans to capture up to a dozen Beluga Whales and doom them to a life of captivity in what the CEO of the park claims is an effort to build public support for the conservation of these magnificent creatures...Wait! What? Run that by me again.You're doing this to save the Beluga...why not start by saving these twelve?

I could go on but that's enough for now. You catch my drift. Whales and dolphins keep struggling to survive in the face of human stupidity, greed, and worst of all, simple apathy. We can't do much about the first two, but along with others who care, this blog will attempt to address the latter.

See you next time....

Good Bye And Good Luck

I began writing this blog a year ago and during that time, it has been read over 3,600 times by people living in 57 countries around the world; people like you who care about whales and dolphins. I sincerely appreciate your patronage but I must confess that I wish I could have reached many, many more of you. I suppose that with the catastrophes, corruption, and chaos that mankind is currently facing, the plight of whales and dolphins is just not that important. Therefore, I have decided to take a hiatus from writing this blog; quite frankly, I do not know if I will ever be back. In parting, I will leave you with a poem from my book, The Tempest’s Roar: it is a prayer for all those in peril on the sea, including the whales and dolphins with whom we share this planet; this tiny blue marble drifting silently through space that we call Earth but they know as Planet Ocean.

Oh Great And Restless Sea

Hear us oh great and restless sea,
oh wondrous ocean deep and wide.
Your boundaries all beings keep,
your storms and tempests we abide.
Pray let us pass in the days to come,
free from thy wrath, safe on thy tides.
That we may cross thy mighty plains,
and suffer not like those who died.
And in the end, with our journey done,
may we to thee simple sojourners be.
Once here in time and place, then gone,
from thee oh great and restless sea.

Take care all, perhaps one day we will meet again…

You Humans Are A Curious Lot

Four million years ago, when your ancestors first walked erect, you were herbivores. By that time, my ancestors, the earliest whales and dolphins, had been swimming through the oceans for over forty million years, and the interaction between our two species was minimal. Two million years later, you became hunter/warriors, running around on your two little feet, clubbing and stabbing to death anything and everything that walked or crawled on land, including your fellow man; but still the interaction between us was limited. Ten thousand years ago, the inevitable happened: you took your killing ways to sea and began hunting my kind, but your methods were primitive and posed no serious threat to us. Thus, for nearly four million years, we co-existed peacefully.
But all that changed in the early 17th century when you began whaling on a commercial scale, and by the 19th century, you had taken your predatory skills to a whole new level, literally slaughtering hundreds of thousands of my kind. For nearly four centuries, this butchery continued unabated, driving many of us to the edge of extinction; until finally in 1986, a caring majority of you decided to bring commercial whaling to an end…sort of. Tragically, some among you, those living in Japan, Iceland, and Norway, still believe that it is their God-given right, their cultural prerogative, to perpetuate the slaughter.
And yet, even as this brutal bloodlust continues, others among your kind work passionately to bring the killing to an end through brave acts on the high seas, proposals submitted to the International Whaling Commission, and legal action brought before the International Court of Justice. You humans are a curious lot; the same DNA that makes some of you cold-blooded killers, makes others peacemakers. And meanwhile, caught squarely in the middle, my kind watches, and waits, and hopes…