Koda and the Whales: a true story

As a four-year old child, her dream was to become a marine biologist. She grew up in Michigan and moved to South Dakota in her early 20s and got a degree in Fisheries and Wildlife and then moved to Utah with a Composite degree in Zoology, Botany and Geology. Her next move was to Arizona where she earned her Master’s degree in Invertebrate Zoology and minor in Paleontology. That opened a job at a college in Eugene, Oregon where she began teaching Marine Biology. Shortly after, she and her two girls moved to Oregon, where she began studying the gray whales in Newport and Depoe Bay. She was lucky to be the scientist to discover what they ate off the Oregon coast. This opened a door to a graduate degree in Biological Oceanography at Oregon State University. After her discovery that the gray whales were eating mysid shrimp in Depoe Bay, OR, Jean Michel Cousteau contacted her and featured her research in his 2006 PBS documentary Gray Whale Obstacle Course. Another lifelong dream to dive with the Cousteau divers came true! Her research was also featured on an Oregon Field Guide episode.

Carrie recently retired from being a Marine Biology professor but she is still active in doing gray whale research. She also has run a whale watching business for almost 20 years called Whale Research EcoExcursions (oregonwhales.com) and is continuing to captain trips for people to see the incredible summer resident gray whales. Her dog, Koda, accompanies her on every trip and helps her find whales. This book is the true story of how gray whales have interacted with Carrie's dogs. The whales seem to know and love the dogs and she believe this is why many times on her whale watching trips these whales give them such close encounters.

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