World Whale Day

The annual day, World Whale Day, was founded in Maui, Hawaii in 1980 to honor humpback whales, which swim off of the coast of this tropical island. This day was started as an idea by Greg Kauffman, founder of the Pacific Whale Foundation, to raise awareness about the threat of extinction faced by humpback whales.

But Whale Day isn't just about those humpbacks who are in Hawaii. Whales inhabit all of the earth's oceans and, sadly, the oceans are not as healthy today as they once were. What used to be a lovely place for our whale friends to live has become polluted by toxic materials such as chemicals, oil spills, plastic litter and industrial waste that is a threat to the whale populations of today and the future.