Ethelbert was a juvenile orca that surfaced in the Columbia River near Portland, Oregon in October 1931.
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.
Ethelbert was seized by the State of Oregon and later, through many legal battles going all the way to the Supreme Court, Lessard procured the whale.
[1] Reports claim that the whale was taken and re-buried in the community of Ireland, outside of the city Washougal, Washington,[2] though the exact whereabouts of Ethelbert's body and whether they remain there today are unknown.
[3] The whale’s bones can still be seen but removal is prohibited under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act.