The Portage Regional Library featured an author yesterday whose book recounts the story that sparked the movement to save killer whales. Journalist, filmmaker and author Mark Leirin-Young introduces the story.

Mark Leiren-Young"My book is called The Killer Whale Who Changed the World. And it's about the first ever killer whale displayed in captivity. And that was back in 1964, and how that completely changed the world's view of whales. I'm at the library today as part of Thin Air for the Winnipeg International Writers Festival."

Leiren-Young shares a highlight from the story.

"The biggest highlight is the biggest shock for me, and what turned me on to this story, was discovering that until this whale was captured, if you saw a killer whale in the wild you were terrified. There used to be machine guns set up on Vancouver Island to kill the whales. The American and the U.S. military would use killer whales for target practice. And when this whale had become known as Moby Doll was accidentally captured by the Vancouver Aquarium, the TV news that night reported that the Vancouver Aquarium had captured a monster. And within just a few days that monster became referred to as a pet. And we saw that they weren't that terrifying. It really changed the world."

He says the book was an insane task to complete. He says he first heard of Moby Doll in 1996 as a reporter with Macleans magazine while interviewing Paul Watson, and original Greenpeace member. Watson related the story of Moby Doll and how the Vancouver Aquarium was the first in the world to display a killer whale in captivity. Leiren-Young says he wondered if Greenpeace was inspired by the story seeing as Vancouver is the birthplace of the "Save the Whales" movement, where the first killer whale was ever displayed. He learned it was no coincidence.

Leiren-Young signing booksHe recounts questions addressed to him from those who were present at the library. "The questions always seem to come down to what orcas eat, and how they became known as killer whales. They really became known as killer whales because they killed other whales. They really don't kill each other, but they will eat different species of whale. The idea that they would eat other whales is what convinced humans that if they'll eat other whales then they'll eat us. That wasn't true, but that's where the legends come from.

Leiren-Young also wrote a book that won the Stephen Leacock medal for humour called Never Shoot A Stampede Queen. He notes he was thrilled to learn the Portage Book Club members all read the work. Leiren-Young adds he started the presentation today with references to that book which is about his time as a reporter in a small town called Williams Lake, BC. He says he's also making a movie about Moby Doll, and a short film about Granny, a 100 year old killer whale. Granny will hit festivals early next year, and hopefully Moby Doll will be released later next the year. Leiren-Young says he does a lot of TV and writing cartoons. He actually working on a reboot of the cartoon called Reboot, the first cartoon he ever worked on.

Author chatting with some who attended