Today, I got really sad to hear that the whale who inspired the song currently stuck in my head as a result of reading the words, "Baby Beluga", has died of cancer at the age of 46 (46?!).
This is sad. Very sad. Like Free Willy sad. (Was that movie sad, or was I just an over-emotional child who, as an adult, doesn't remember the plot?)
Singer Raffi Says Goodbye To His ‘Baby Beluga’
(WHALE NEWS) The beluga whale named Kavna that inspired singer Raffi to create the great children’s song “Baby Beluga” passed away at the Vancouver Aquarium on Monday. The 46-year-old whale is thought to have suffered from cancer in her last years. Although Kavna did not swim so wild and swim so free like the song’s memorable lyrics, she touched a generation through one brief yet powerful encounter with the children’s singer and advocate. Read on for the profound impact this beautiful whale had on the world. — Global Animal
Photo credit: The Huffington Post
The Huffington Post, Allie Compton
Kavna, the beluga whale that inspired the beloved children’s song “Baby Beluga” by Raffi, passed away from a possible cancer-related illness on Monday afternoon at the Vancouver Aquarium.
The 46-year-old whale spent her life in captivity, according to the Vancouver Sun, but lived well beyond the life expectancy of her species. Aquarium workers told The Canadian Press that belugas typically live 25 to 30 years, and that Kavna may have been even older than her estimated age.
After conducting a preliminary autopsy, aquarium veterinarian Dr. Martin Haulena told reporters that he uncovered a series of cancerous lesions that indicated a recent and quickly spreading cancer.
“Right now, the lesions are most consistent with a cancer, and that is unfortunately a disease we associated with age,” said Haulena, “So we’re looking at a great life for a great whale who had almost nothing wrong with her.”
Kavna had been with the aquarium since 1975. Four years after her arrival, prolific children’s singer/songwriter Raffi Cavoukian visited the aquarium. His interaction with Kavna inspired him to write “Baby Beluga,” a song about a baby whale who swims and plays at sea:
Baby beluga in the deep blue sea,
Swim so wild and you swim so free.
Heaven above and the sea below,
And a little white whale on the go.
Raffi recalled his first interaction with Kavna in an interview with News 1130 in Vancouver.
“The folks at the aquarium brought me to poolside and the trainer helped me to play with Kavna. Kavna even came out of the water and placed a gentle, graceful kiss on my cheek and I couldn’t stop talking about it for a couple of weeks!”
Raffi took to Twitter Monday to express his condolences, posting this picture of Kavna and him from 1980:
“She was just so beautiful,” Raffi told the Sun, “She was so playful and she had a very pure spirit and you could swear she smiled at you.”
“On a day like this, I’m mostly thinking about the joy of knowing Kavna and the profound impact of the close encounter that would not have been possible in any other way,” he told News 1130.
More Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/08/baby-beluga-raffi-whale-dies_n_1755750.html
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