Orca Love Letters

A Global Letter Writing Campaign for Captive Orca

The world dropped away. Nothing existed in that moment but the water, the whale, and the tiny bit of boat I was standing on.

I often paint mother and calf Orca to represent their deep family bonds.

Seeing a full grown orca swim right next to your boat is a once in a lifetime experience. Or so I thought.

I was only ten years old, and that was Wizard, a male member of J-Pod in British Columbia. Decades later, as a full grown adult myself, I had another orca encounter. Off the coast of Portugal. It was the scariest two minutes of my life. I know orca don’t harm people in the wild, and I know these particular orca are likely just playing with boats — no harm intended, despite the damage they cause. It was that accidental damage that was so scary.

Out of pure instinct and no small amount of desperation, I ran to the helm, held onto the backstay with one hand, reached the other toward the water, and shouted:

Please don’t break my boat. I’m an ocean advocate. I love you, I work for you!

And — coincidence or not — they left.

I’ll be honest: I’ve never worked directly on orca issues. But I felt like I made a promise that day.

So when I was in Gran Canaria and discovered that four Orca are held captive at Loro Parque on Tenerife — the island just 40 nautical miles west, visible on a clear day — my heart broke. I was on my way to the Global Sustainable Island Summit with a million things on my mind. But after the Summit, the orca came to me in a dream.

I dreamt that the entire park came to visit my harbour. I was running along the cement walls of a dolphin and orca show, frantically looking for a way to release them. I woke up knowing I had to do something.

All of it — the anger, the sadness, the helplessness — made me realise something. This is the perfect opportunity to appeal to our humanity. We like to tell ourselves we are rational beings, and sometimes we go as far as demonising feelings and emotions. But humans always make decisions with their gut first, then wrap logic around it. Our emotions show us what matters. We need only respond accordingly.

That’s why I’m starting Orca Love Letters.

This was inspired by the high calf mortality rate of the Southern Resident Orca, who live in the Pacific Northwest and are facing extinction due to the dams on the Lower Snake River that prevent salmon from swimming upstream and spawning; a critical part of a healthy ecosystem connecting the Pacific Ocean to inland forests.

Through a global, handwritten letter campaign, we will flood the corporate offices of marine parks holding orca captive — and politely ask for their release. The suffering of these animals is well documented. Boycotts and protests have made progress. But I think we can finish this with compassion — because that’s what it’s always been about.

We, the letter writers, are appealing to the human capacity for compassion. Marine park directors and CEOs are human. The idea of the “faceless corporation” is partly a fiction — corporations are made of people, who sometimes want to hide their face. And why wouldn’t they? Holding Orca in captivity is shameful. It’s exploitative. It’s a symptom of a broken relationship between humans and the natural world.

So we will ask for healing. True leadership responds to what communities want and what the world needs.

It is my sincerest hope that after we mail our letters on World Orca Day, 14 July 2026 — and share them across social media — marine park leaders do show their face. Not because they caused all the harm, but because they are the ones with the power to create real change.

I hope you’ll write a letter.

I’ve created a free Orca Love Letters toolkit for individuals and organisations — the full concept, writing prompts, and mailing addresses. Download it here.

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As always, thank you for reading and supporting Artist at Law. If you’d like to support Orca Love Letters specifically, you can BuyMeACoffee — just add a note so I know it’s for the campaign. I’m hoping to partner with nonprofits to make next year even bigger.

You can also opt for a paid subscription, which helps me keep all content free for everyone, all the time.

And if you’re a nonprofit, an ocean advocate, or simply an orca lover — come celebrate with us. I’m hosting a free virtual gathering on Friday 17 July to share our letters, orca encounters, and ideas for year two. Register here.

Thanks for writing, sharing, and showing up. Have your favourite day.