Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of pregnancy loss and animal cruelty and death.

In A Whale of the Wild, Rosanne Parry delivers an urgent message about the influence of human activity on natural habitats. Vega and her family are on the brink of starvation for much of the novel, and the author directly implicates overfishing in the characters’ suffering: “Sometimes net boats come and take from us. Some seasons our salmon run strong, and there is enough for everyone. Sometimes the salmon come late or only a few make it home. No one can say why” (32). At multiple points in the story, the whales remind one another not to succumb to greed, or else they risk making a “wasteland of the sea” (26). This warning is not meant only for the marine mammals but also for the novel’s human audience. Indeed, human activity threatens to make the Salish Sea a wasteland as pollution and overfishing lead to dropping salmon and orca populations. One of the most impactful moments for the theme of human influence on natural habitats is the loss of Vega’s little sister.