Ethelbert (killer whale)

Ethelbert was a juvenile killer whale or Orca that surfaced in the Columbia River near Portland, Oregon in October 1931. The whale swam 100 miles from the sea up the river. Being a rare sighting that far up the river, many sportsmen grabbed rifles and guns and began to shoot the whale to try and kill it for themselves. The Governor Julius L. Meier ordered them to stop. Some thought the whale was healthy but others thought it was slowly dying and needed to be humanely put down. Ed Lessard, a former whaler, and his son Joseph Lessard set out with harpoons and killed the whale, who had gained the name Ethelbert.

The body of the whale was retrieved by others and pickled in embalming fluid for preservation. Ethelbert was seized by the State of Oregon and later, through many legal battles going all the way to the Supreme Court, the whale was procured by Lessard. Some years after, Lessard carted Ethelbert around the country as a showpiece. After retiring the show, he brought the whale to his property on a mountain in Washougal, WA where the whale still rests, resisting decay.

References

• Wilson, Katie (10 Mar 2015). "The sad, strange story of Ethelbert Orca comes to a tragic end after weird interaction with humans". Chinook Observer.
• "Animals: Portland's Ethelbert". Time. 9 Nov 1931.
• "The short, tragic history of whaling in Portland city limits | Offbeat Oregon History | #ORhistory". offbeatoregon.com. Retrieved 2017-06-25.