He remembers vividly the day he caught Tokitae, one of some 100 orca whales captured behind a net in Whidbey Island's Penn Cove.
to the world, with his capture of Namu, a northern resident orca for his aquarium on the downtown Seattle waterfront. Griffin arrived in Seattle on July 28, 1965, with Namu in tow, to a hero's welcome. He was given a key to the city.
"I have no regrets for all the activities," Griffin said. But he added,"I am sorry the whales passed away during the capture, and that they are not alive today." He remembered Tokitae well. She was small, about 10 or 12 feet long, and young. Easy to train, easy to ship, and easy to capture."I am not saying she cooperated. But she didn't fight us the way some whales, that are so skillful, no matter what you do, they won't come around."
Griffin, now 87, didn't see her again until a visit about five years ago, at the Seaquarium. He approached the staff to congratulate them on her care. Unaware who he was or why he was interacting with them, Griffin said he was escorted out of the facility by an armed guard. Griffin is the type of dog owner who lets his dog run free, using neither fence nor leash. But Griffin said he confined orcas because he wanted to be close to them. He got in the water with them, and even rode Namu. It wasn't about science, he said. He just wanted contact.
The whales were getting harder to hunt, learning to hide their young and elude captors. And the world was turning against the captors they once rooted for. The national Marine Mammal Protection Act was passed in 1972, outlawing harassment, harm and hunts of marine mammals. Yet SeaWorld was allowed to continue its hunts when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in 1974 granted the amusement park an economic hardship exemption.
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