Willy (whale)
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Willy is the name of the whale skeleton hung in Harned Hall at the University of Puget Sound. Willy is a Gray Whale who was born in January of 1972. He died by washing ashore near Chanook, Washington in March of 1973 at the age of 14 months. He was found with a few broken bones, suggesting he may have been hit by a boat, causing him to run ashore. Willy was named by the students of UPS after Free Willy the whale from the famous movie.
Willy was one of four whales found dead in Washington in 1972. Willy was collected by Steve Jeffries (UPS graduate student), Murray L. Johnson (Slater Museum Mammal Curator), Tim Moore (UPS graduate student) with the assistance of Dale Peterson of United Farms in Graham, Washington, under permits from NMFS/NMML. Willy has the preparation number of SJ 77 indicating it was the 77th specimen prepared by Steve Jeffries.
After preparation, the whale was donated to the University of Puget Sound, where it spent about 30 years in storage in Thompson Hall room 410. During the construction of Harned Hall, Willy was taken out and brought to the workshop of professor Albert Shepherd. Willy was then pieced together, and brought to Harned Hall and installed into the new building between May 3, and May 5, 2006. Prior to being named Willy, the professors handling Willy had called him Alice when referring to him; however, the students found this name unacceptable for a male whale.
