Corky is a female orca whale who was captured in 1969 at 4 years of age. She has now spent more than 31 years in captivity, longer than any other orca. When Corky was captured, very little was known about orcas, not even the fact that they form closely bonded family groups within which members remain all their lives. Corky's family in the wild is known as the "A5 pod" of British Columbia, Canada. Corky has close and distant relatives living free that she knew as a youngster, as well as siblings she has never known. She is the sole survivor of all the orcas captured from the "northern resident community" of British Columbia orcas. The campaign to free Corky aims at returning her to life with her family in the wild. There are many compelling reasons for doing this. In fairness, we owe it to Corky and her family to make the attempt to reunite them. Corky's return to the ocean will also give us an opportunity to learn details about orca society that we will never know otherwise. But beyond these humanitarian and scientific reasons, Corky's story and the complex project needed to bring it to a successful conclusion has the potential for focusing public attention on a wide range of critical ocean issues... pollution and the health of vital habitats, fisheries and food supply, impacts of human activity and industry, even global warming.

In 2001 Corky's FREEDOM tour will again take her message and her fabulous banner made by children around the world to schools and summer fairs and festivals in the Pacific Northwest... small steps on Corky's journey home.