Skip to content
All articles
  • All articles
  • About whales & dolphins
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Green Whale
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Scottish Dolphin Centre
  • Stop whaling
Orca Lulu's body contained PCB levels 100x above the safe limit. Image: SMASS

Toxic tides, troubled whales: the toll of chemical pollution

In last week's blog, we examined the challenges whales and dolphins face as they travel...
Group of orcas at surface

Breaking barriers for whales and dolphins at the Convention of Migratory Species

Many species of whales, dolphins and porpoises undertake long journeys, encountering human-made obstacles along the...
Tokyo

WDC in Japan – Part 1: Finding allies in Tokyo

At the end of May, I embarked on an incredible journey to Japan on behalf...
Amazon river dolphins leaping

The state of river dolphin conservation

At Whale and Dolphin Conservation, we partner with conservationists and communities fighting to save river...
Researchers in Southeast Alaska studying whale poo

We’re funding crucial research on whale poo to combat the climate crisis

The ocean is one of the lungs of our planet, and whales help it to...
Narwhal surfacing

The unicorns of the sea must be protected – CITES

The narwhal, is under threat. Often referred to as the unicorns of the sea, narwhals,...
Sperm whales

We’re pushing governments for action for our climate heroes – whales

The climate crisis is the greatest threat to all life on Earth. But there is...
Dolphins captured for captivity in Taiji. Image: Hans Peter Roth

Loved and killed – whales and dolphins in Japan

Protests and criticism from outside Japan in response to the slaughter of whales and dolphins...

Springer has a calf!

In the summer of 2007, I was fortunate enough to travel to British Columbia and the waters north of Vancouver Island where the Northern Resident population of orcas spend their summers. One day, out on the water, I saw Springer or A-73, a young female orca whose story I knew pretty well.

Springer was found alone in 2002 in Puget Sound, many miles from home, after her mother died and she became separated from her pod. From her vocalisations, Helena Symonds at Orcalab, a WDC funded project and home to WDC’s Adopt an Orca programme, was able to identify her family among the Northern Residents. So began a project to rehabilitate her back to good health and return her to her home waters and an orca pod she would be accepted into. The project to save Springer was thankfully successful and her progress has been monitored as her pod returns to the waters around Vancouver Island each year. This year, now aged 13, Springer has been seen with her first calf. We are very excited at this news and wish Springer and her pod every success with their new family member. Another great chapter in the successful return of Springer to her home waters.