L 38 Dylan

Dylan swam in the Salish Sea from 1965 - 98 then died in what should have been peak years of his life as a young male.

No one knows why, he just disappeared,

He came to our attention in 1991 when we were visiting the Orca Research Station on the San Juan’s.

Dylan was a feisty youth then and since was a new Orca Adoption Program to help raise money for research. We “adopted” him as a gift to for my 80-year-old mother’s birthday.

My Mother was thrilled and boasted to all her friends and neighbours in England that she’d be given a whale for her birthday, and we’d chosen it for her as it had the same name as her first grandchild.

She loved the yearly updates and photos from the Whale Research Centre as we renewed our pledges.

We were all devastated when the news came at Christmas 1998 that Dylan had been missing for several months and was now presumed dead.

Even though it is so many years after Dylan’s death, I really mourned while making this Prayer flag, as the plight of the Orcas is worse, not better.

 We are in danger of losing all these magnificent animals forever, because of our lack of action re the health of the Salish Sea,

 

Citizen Scientist:  Andrea Spalding