Sad end for Luna - the solitary Orca

An orca whale that captured the hearts of thousands has died. Officials said the orca, nicknamed Luna, appeared to have been hit by the propellers of an
ocean tugboat in Nootka Sound, off Vancouver Island, where it had lived since 2001 after getting separated from his family pod.

The young male whale, which often played with boats in an apparent search for companionship, may have miscalculated the tug's power and was pulled into the blades, Luna was curious around vessels.

Scientists will investigate the accident and confirm the death, but based on reports from the scene, its almost certain the whale is Luna. Orcas normally spend their entire lives with their families, and it was not known how Luna got separated from his pod, which summers in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, between Washington state and British Columbia, about 200 km (130 miles) south of Nootka Sound.

Transient killer whales, which range along the coast preying on seals and other marine mammals, occasionally come through the long, twisty sound, but tend to avoid human traffic. However Luna was part of the region's "resident population," which spends much of the year in U.S. and Canadian inland waters. They live and hunt in family groups and mostly eat fish, especially salmon.

Luna was about 6 years old. Lately, he had been gathering scars from increasingly frequent close calls with propellers, but apparently no serious injuries. Canada tried in 2004 to reunite him with his pod in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, which separates Washington state from Vancouver Island. In 2002, the U.S. and Canadian governments successfully reunited a Canadian orca, A-73 or Springer, with her family after her mother died and she wandered into busy Puget Sound. She had only been separated from Canada's A-pod for a period of months.

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