Orca- The Inspiration Behind Our Name

Posted on August 1st, 2022.

There was a life that brought joy to wherever needed, peace to strangers, and love to everyone all the time. His name was Orca...

Yes, that was his name. I was a volunteer, on recovery patient duty, at a spay and neuter clinic providing a much needed service to a reservation in South Dakota. Some animals were brought in from being caught and had no shelter or homes to take them, so we recovered them in the clinic before having to take them back to where they were found on the reservation. I took care of the rabies certificates, regardless of if the animal had a home or not, and gave names to those who needed one.

See, I’d been obsessed with orca whales since I could read and had always wanted to name an awesome dog- Orca.

I had named a lot of dogs in my days of this sort of clinic work and foster/rescue work, but I had never even considered naming any dog that special name until I met him… Orca (aka Orca Bear and many other fond names people created for him over the years).

Orca helped foster puppies, he helped socialize dogs and children to dogs, provided animal assisted therapy, protected livestock, and protected me dutifully in so many ways. He saved my life. Despite my best medical efforts and current knowledge, I ran out of time with him. I carry him with me in every aspect of my life and I always will.

Orca’s story, from a reservation in South Dakota to saying goodbye on the island of St. Thomas, never stopped being one of love for all, peace to strangers, and joy to whoever needed it. This is why I founded the Oklahoma Rehabilitative Care for Animals Foundation nonprofit. Because both he, and his rescue sibling, Kalina from St. Kitts, came from situations where both physical and mental rehabilitation were necessary, but was not able to be addressed due to lack of support when rescuing and lack of veterinary education readily available in these areas at the time.

My soul was changed and nurtured through the years I was able to spend with Orca. I want every person who opens their heart and home to an animal in need to have the support to be set up for success in the new life with their new partner. There is power in the love that can be grown and shared when you adopt an animal who needs you.

I want to be able to share this area of veterinary medicine, that often gets left behind, to improve the lives of everyone the way Orca did.

Thank you for reading the story behind our name,

Emily

Rest In Peace Orca- August 1, 2019