Meet the woman who answers the call when Newfoundland’s whales need help

From fishing boats in Australia to whale rescues in Newfoundland, Julie Huntington has spent decades on the water

For more than three decades, Julie Huntington has worked alongside some of the ocean’s largest creatures, helping free whales caught in fishing gear off Newfoundland and Labrador’s coast. “Every whale is a moment of awe, every disentanglement is a moment of awe,” Huntington said. But Huntington’s path to becoming a whale rescuer began far from Newfoundland.

A lifelong pull toward the ocean Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Huntington grew up near Lake Michigan before a lifelong connection to the water took her into the fishing industry. She later worked on bottom trawlers in Australia, where she developed a deep understanding of life at sea, and also spent years as a scuba diving instructor. “I always loved the ocean.

Even getting seasick and all of that, I continued working in the fishery,” she said. “I liked being on the water, and I loved the activity of the ocean and the animals and the plants.” Her experience on the water eventually brought her to Newfoundland in 1987, where she met her husband, fellow whale rescuer Wayne Ledwell.

“I met my husband here, and that’s the story,” she said with a laugh. Today, Huntington and Ledwell have built a life centred around family and helping whales in distress. A chance opportunity changed everything Huntington never planned on becoming a whale rescuer.

The opportunity came in 1989, when Jon Lien, who founded Newfoundland and Labrador’s whale disentanglement program, Whale Release & Strandings, asked if she wanted a job. With her background experience in mind, she said yes. More than 35 years later, she is still answering the call.

In the early days, whales were often caught in cod and capelin nets and would remain relatively stationary while rescuers worked to free them. Today, the situation can be much more unpredictable. “The animal’s constantly moving,” she explained.

“It can cover a distance; it can go around in circles. It’s a different kind of scope.” Julie Huntington with her granddaughter Ruth.

Huntington has spent more than three decades responding to whale entanglements through Whale Release & Strandings. Over the years, Huntington has watched the work evolve. Face-to-face with giants One of Huntington’s earliest whale rescue memories remains vivid.

In those early days, she and her team would lean over the side of a Zodiac boat with a mask and snorkel, working just an arm’s length away from the animal. Looking into the water during one of her first rescues, she saw the whale up close for the first time. “You’re looking underwater, and then you see this huge eye and this huge body, like a dinosaur,” she recalled.

At first, she said, she was in awe — and a little fearful. Then came the work. “You become serious about the disentanglement in order to get the gear off as safely and quickly as possible,” she noted.

Even after decades of rescues, the whales continue to leave an impression. One encounter near Fogo Island remains especially memorable. While working on a whale, it raised one of its massive side fins above her husband’s head.

“You don’t know what it’s going to do,” she said. “You don’t know if it’s going to smack down with that fin or if it’s just raising it up and feeling uncomfortable.” Always ready to go For Huntington, whale rescues require constant preparation.

“We’re prepared,” she said. “We have our gear ready, we have a boat ready, we often have a spare boat.” The team remains on call year-round, ready to respond along Newfoundland and Labrador’s vast coastline.

The work often means putting personal plans aside when a call comes in. “When you get a disentanglement, it could be your child’s birthday. It could be a wedding, Thanksgiving,” she said.

“You just go.” 20 Questions Q. What is your full name?

A. Julie Huntington Q. Where and when were you born, and where do you live today? A. Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the end of the 50s. I live in Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s Q.

What is one thing you would like people to know about you? A. I’m not really rude, it’s just a joke... Q.

What would people be surprised to learn about you? A. I really like snorkeling at Beachy Cove. Q.

What is the hardest thing you have done? A. The hardest and best and most wonderful: raising three great children who are adults now.

Q. Can you describe one experience that changed your life? A.

Every moment changes my life! Q. What is your greatest indulgence?

A. I do like to eat good local food. My children and husband are excellent cooks.

Q. What is your favourite book? A.

The Forager’s Dinner by Shawn Dawson. Q. What is your favourite movie?

A. Perfect Days by Wim Wenders. Q. What music do you like to listen to?

A. Local music, oldies, old-time waltzes. We’ve just started dancing at the legion and the Knights of Columbus. I step on toes, but it’s fun...VOWR is fun too.

Q. How do you like to relax? A.

Eating meals with family and friends, walking the East Coast Trail, swimming in the ocean at Beachy Cove and warming on the rocks. Q. Who would play you in a movie about your life? A.

Who else but Meryl Streep? Q. What is your greatest fear?

A. People not taking care of one another. Q. What is your greatest joy?

A. Everyone taking care of each other and our world (and our grandchildren). Q. What is your most treasured possession?

A. Family... and friends. Q. What is the best advice you got from a parent or mentor?

A. My mom always said ‘drink it all in’. Q.

What would you say is your best quality, and what would you say your worst quality is? A. My best quality is sometimes I have patience and let things go; my worst is when I’m tired, I’m tired.

Q. Where is your favourite place in the world? A.

I do like Beachy Cove, my own yard, watching the sunset and looking at clouds. Q. What advice would you give to your 12-year-old self?

A. A chill life is full of wonderful people. Listen to music and dance.

Q. Which three people would join you for your dream dinner party? A.

My mother was a kind person; I’d like her to be there, and my daughter Abigail. I never met my husband’s mother, Marion Condon Ledwell...that would keep me busy.