Renowned whale museum lost to fire in B.C.'s Telegraph Cove was a 'labour of love'

Mary Borrowman is mourning the loss of the Whale Interpretive Centre in Telegraph Cove, B.C., a popular tourism attraction that helped fuel the local economy and drew visitors from around the world.

The centre, which housed a large collection of marine mammal skeletons, was destroyed during the Dec. 31 fire that levelled parts of the Vancouver Island resort village.

 "We had probably the largest marine mammal skeleton collection hanging in Western Canada, and it is just as world renowned now," Borrowman said.

"We didn't actually get going as an on-land entity until 2002, but my husband Jim has been collecting marine mammal skeletons for over 40 years."

Telegraph Cove has a population of 20 people, and is located about 200 kilometres northwest of Campbell River. 

No one was injured in the fire — which happened during the resort's off-season — but the flames destroyed numerous local businesses, including The Killer Whale Cafe, the Old Saltery Pub, the offices of two tour companies and the Whale Interpretive Centre.

The cause of the blaze remains under investigation. 

Humble beginnings

When the interpretive centre began, the owners of the resort gave Borrowman and her husband a small space on the waterfront boardwalk. Their first year in operation was such a success that they expanded their space several times in the years that followed, and saw visitors arriving from around the world. 

"It's a labour of our heart, it's not a job. It's a volunteer labour of love for both Jim and I," Borrowman said.

She went down to the cove from her nearby home after the fire broke out and saw the building engulfed in flames.

"That was hard to watch," she said, fighting back tears.

Borrowman said the centre was created in response to a government recommendation that such a space be built somewhere on the northern end of Vancouver Island to complement the Robson Bight Ecological Reserve, which was established in 1982 as a sanctuary for killer whales.

WATCH | Blaze destroys numerous businesses in Telegraph Cove:

Fire destroys historic pier, whaling museum on Vancouver Island

4 days ago

Duration 1:58

An investigation has been launched after a large fire in Vancouver Island’s Telegraph Cove destroyed a historic boardwalk and multiple buildings, including a local pub, a whale-watching office and a whaling museum that hosted a large collection of whale skeletons.

'Swimming above you'

Emily Gatto, a former employee of the interpretive centre, spent many summers working there with her sister. 

"It was our passion," she said.

"She and I and Jim and Mary Borrowman, who are like family to us, we've all put so much work into this collection over the years, building skeletons, fundraising, maintaining, educating."

The highlight of the centre, Gatto said, was a 60-foot fin whale skeleton that was suspended from the ceiling.

"They looked like they were swimming above you …  it was an incredible perspective of these amazing animals that most people never see. You don't [normally] get to walk underneath whales."

Gatto, who lives in the nearby community of Port McNeill, said she's devastated by the loss of the centre, which felt like her home. She met her husband there in 2019, and it's where they got married in 2023.

LISTEN | Woman mourns loss of museum where she found love:

As It Happens8:07Whale museum destroyed in fire felt like ‘home’ to Vancouver Island woman

When a New Year’s Eve fire ripped through a historic boardwalk in the village of Telegraph Cove on Vancouver Island, it destroyed the Whale Interpretive Centre, a museum that housed a collection of marine mammal specimens, including a 20-metre fin whale skeleton. Not only did Emily Gatto once work at the centre, she met her husband and got married there. She spoke to As It Happens guest host Stephanie Skenderis.

Rebuilding a collection

The loss of the centre will have repercussions for the broader community as well, Gatto said, noting it was a huge tourist attraction that helped fuel the economy in northern Vancouver Island. 

It drew a particularly large pool of visitors from the U.K., Germany and the Netherlands every summer. Until it's rebuilt, local communities are likely to feel a financial impact, she said.

Luckily, an outpouring of support since the fire has made that goal seem possible. Gatto and Borrowman said they've started fundraising to build a new centre.

"It is just warming our hearts and it's encouraging us and giving us hope to carry on, whatever that means," Borrowman said.

While the whale collection at Telegraph Cove was fully incinerated, the organization has two skeletons — a pygmy sperm whale and a dolphin — on Saltspring Island, B.C., where they are being assembled for suspension. It's a far cry from what they had before the fire, but Borrowman said she's encouraged by the fact that that's the same number of skeletons the centre had when it first opened.

"We started with two, [so] we can do it again.

"The young man that does that was our first employee in 2002 … and we told him this morning we want him to complete the project because we will carry on somehow," she said.