This Thursday, the Southwest Seattle Historical Society‘s monthly online author series, Words, Writers, Southwest Stories, features Donna Sandstrom, author of “Orca Rescue!” – telling the story of lost orca Springer‘s successful rescue – and founder of The Whale Trail. Here’s the SWSHS announcement:

Working Together to Save the Whales
Stories of Hope, from Springer to the Southern Residents

In 2002 a young orca named Springer was discovered near West Seattle – lost, alone, and 300 miles away from home. Six months later she was rescued, rehabilitated, and returned to her pod on the north end of Vancouver Island. Today she is thriving, with two calves of her own. It’s the only successful orca reintroduction in history!

Join the Southwest Seattle Historical Society and local author Donna Sandstrom for our next Words, Writers, Southwest Stories at 6 pm Thursday, October 10. Sandstrom will share the inspiring story of Springer’s rescue, and how it led her to found The Whale Trail. Learn about current initiatives to protect the endangered southern resident orcas and how you can participate in their recovery.

Donna Sandstrom is the Founder of The Whale Trail, a west coast-wide series of sites to watch whales from shore, In 2002 she was a community organizer on the successful effort to return Springer, an orphaned orca, to her pod. Donna recently served as a member of Gov. Jay Inslee’s Orca Recovery Task Force, where she championed solutions to reduce noise and disturbance around the endangered southern resident orcas. Prior to founding The Whale Trail, she was a team and project manager at Adobe Systems. She is the author of “Orca Rescue, the true story of an orphaned orca named Springer” (Kids Can Press 2021), which is a 2025 Sasquatch Award nominee. She is a long-time resident of West Seattle.

Register here to attend, and SWSHS will send you the link before the talk on Thursday.

P.S. “Orca Rescue” was recently published as an audio book – in which you can hear Springer’s actual calls!