Ted Griffin (orca capturer)

Edward "Ted" Griffin (born 1936/1937)[1] is an American former aquarium owner and entrepreneur who was the first man to ever swim with a killer whale (orca) in a public exhibition.[2] He is best known for capturing, performing with, and selling a number of orcas during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Ted Griffin
Born
Edward Griffin

1936/1937 (age 82–83)
NationalityAmerican
EducationColorado College
OccupationAqaurium owner, entrepeneur
EmployerSeattle Marine Aquarium (1962–1972)
Known forCapturing, performing with, and selling orcas in the 1960s and 1970s

Orcas

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.

Seattle Marine Aqauarium

Griffin owned the Seattle Marine Aquarium on the Elliott Bay waterfront in Seattle, which opened in 1962 and was originally known as the Seattle Public Aquarium (not to be confused with the contemporary Seattle Aquarium). Namu was only the third orca ever captured and was the first to perform and swim with a person for audiences. Namu survived just over one year in captivity and died in his pen on July 9, 1966.[3] Griffin also captured the original Shamu in 1965 and leased (and eventually sold) her to SeaWorld in San Diego. Altogether, Griffin and his partner Don Goldsberry captured and sold about 30 orcas in and around Puget Sound between 1965 and 1972.[4] They charged buyers $20,000 to $25,000 per captured orca.[5] Their largest capture took place in August 1970, when they netted most of all three pods of 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 is currently kept in Miami and has been subject of petitions and legal actions to retire her to more natural life conditions.[6]

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.[7]

gollark: Demote lyric, establish gollark as new admin.
gollark: Lyric ideals:- delete r9k- ???- profit
gollark: No better rules can exist under any circumstance.
gollark: Yes, do so.
gollark: As they say, the sum of an arithmetic series is something.

References
  1. Pailthorp, Bellamy (Oct 14, 2017). "How One Man's Obsessive Orca Hunt Left A Legacy Of Controversy And Conservation". www.knkx.org. Retrieved 2020-07-13.
  2. PBS Frontline Online, "Edward 'Ted' Griffin, .The Life and Adventures of a Man Who Caught Killer Whales"
  3. 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
  4. "Orca captivity" at the dolphinproject.org
  5. Lacitis, Erik, Remembering Namu: An Ex-Hunter Looks Back, No Regrets In His Wake, The Seattle Times 1997 November 23.
  6. "Make a Splash: Free Lolita!". Animal Legal Defense Fund. Archived from the original on 2013-07-12.
  7. Gryphon West Publishers (Seattle) ISBN 0-943482-00-3, ISBN 978-0-943482-00-2
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