Editor-DN
Mary Borrowman is mourning the loss of the Whale Interpretive Center in Telegraph Cove, BC, a popular tourist attraction that boosted the local economy and attracted visitors from around the world.
gave The centerwhich contained a large collection of marine mammal skeletons, was destroyed during a Dec. 31 fire that leveled parts of the Vancouver Island resort village.
“We had probably the largest marine mammal skeleton hanging in western Canada, and it’s now known around the world,” Borroman said.
“We weren’t really known as terrestrial creatures until 2002, but my husband Jim has been collecting marine mammal skeletons for 40 years.”
Telegraph Cove has a total population of 20 people, and is located approximately 200 km northwest of Campbell River.
No one was injured in the fire – which happened during the resort’s off-season – but the blaze destroyed a number of local businesses, including The Killer Whale Cafe, the Old Saltery Pub, the offices of two tour companies and the Whale Interpretive Centre.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
Humble beginnings
When the interpretive center opened, the owners of the resort gave Borroman and her husband a small space on the waterfront boardwalk. Their first year in operation was so successful that they expanded their space several times in the years that followed, and saw visitors from all over the world.
“It’s a labor of our hearts, it’s not a job. It’s a volunteer labor of love for both Jim and I,” Borroman said.
After the fire, she came down from her nearby house and saw the building engulfed in flames.
“It was hard to watch,” she said, fighting back tears.
Borrowman said the center was created in response to a government recommendation to build a site on the North Island to complement the Robeson Bight Ecological Reserve, which was established in 1982 as a sanctuary for killer whales. .
An investigation has been launched after a large fire in Telegraph Cove on Vancouver Island destroyed a historic boardwalk and several buildings, including a local pub, a whale-watching office and a whaling museum. A large collection of whale skeletons was hosted.
‘Swimming Above You’
Emily Gatto, a former employee of the Interpretive Center, spent several summers working there with her sister.
“It was our obsession,” he said.
“He and I and Jim and Mary Borroman, who are like family to us, we’ve all put so much work into the collection over the years, building skeletons, fundraising, maintaining, teaching.”
Gatto said the center’s highlight was a 60-foot-long whale skeleton that hung from the ceiling.
“They looked like they were floating above you … it was an incredible view of these amazing animals that most people never see. You don’t (usually) get to walk under a whale.”
Gato, who lives in the nearby community of Port McNeil, said she is devastated by the loss of the center, which feels like home to her. She met her husband there in 2019, and they were married there in 2023.
Rebuilding a collection
Gatto said the loss of the center would also have ramifications for the wider community, noting it was a huge tourist attraction that helped fuel the economy on the North Island.
It especially drew a large pool of visitors from Britain, Germany and the Netherlands every summer. Until it is rebuilt, local communities are likely to feel the financial impact, he said.
Fortunately, the outpouring of support since the fire has made that goal possible. Gatto and Borroman said they have begun fundraising to build a new center.
“It’s just warming our hearts and it’s encouraging us and giving us hope to keep going, whatever that means,” Borrowman said. Ho,” Borrowman said.
While the whale collection at Telegraph Cove was completely burned, the organization has two skeletons — a pygmy sperm whale and a dolphin — on Salt Spring Island, BC, where they are being collected for suspension. It’s a far cry from what they had before the fire, but Borroman said she’s encouraged by the fact that the center had as many skeletons as it did when it first opened.
“We started with two, (so) we can do it again.
“The young man who does this was our first employee in 2002 … and we told him this morning that we want him to finish this project because we’re going to move forward one way or another.”
