CONNY'S HEIDELBERG CONNECTION - 1975-2003

"Conny" is a life-size, 60-foot, ferro-cement model of a male Sperm Whale -- the only one of its kind anyplace in the world. It was built over a year's time in 1975-76 with 5,000 hours of volunteer labor by the Connecticut Cetacean Society (now Cetacean Society International -- CSI) on the grounds outside the Science Center of Connecticut, at 950 Trout Brook Drive, in West Hartford, Connecticut, USA.

Its nick-name came from the abbreviation for Connecticut, because in 1975 the state legislature designated the Sperm Whale as Connecticut's official state animal, in recognition of the historic role which the whaling industry played in the development of Connecticut in past centuries. Today "Conny" stands as a symbol of conservation and a springboard for education for the many thousands of school children and adults who visit him each year.

CSI Board members in photo above, celebrating Conny's Heidelberg Connection at the Science Center in West Hartford, Connecticut, on June 16, 2003, included (left to right, back row): Meg Barstow, Robbins Barstow, Jakob Kollhofer from Germany, Brent Hall, Paul Knapp, Barbara Kilpatrick, Tom Callinan, Don Sineti, and (in foreground) Robert Victor, Martha Fitzgerald, and Bill Rossiter.

Over the past three decades, as Conny's fame has spread world-wide, whale killing has come to be replaced by whale watching as the optimum utilization for whale resources throughout the oceans of the world, in the eyes of all but a few of the 45 nations comprising the International Whaling Commission.

In October 1992, the Director of the German-American Institute in Heidelberg, Germany, Jakob Kollhofer, who had met then CSI President Donald Sineti and CSI Volunteer Executive Director Dr. Robbins Barstow at an International "Whales Alive" Conference in Hawaii, invited the two of them to come to Heidelberg as part of a cultural exchange program.

These Connecticut whale advocates spent several days in Heidelberg, with Bloomfield folk-singer Sineti celebrating whales with music and song, and Wethersfield filmmaker Barstow showing movies of the building of Conny and the global "Save the Whale" movement.

Nearly 11 years later, on June 16, 2003, Jakob Kollhofer visited Hartford, Connecticut, and paid Heidelberg's respect to Conny and the still all-volunteer Cetacean Society International, by presenting to CSI President William Rossiter, of Redding, CT, and CSI Treasurer Robert Victor, of Glastonbury, CT, a gift of $30,000 in support of CSI's world-wide work on behalf of whales, dolphins, and porpoises.

The money had been raised over the past decade through festivals and other activities sponsored by Jakob's Deutsch-Amerikanisch Institut in Heidelberg with the aim of protecting our vulnerable "Blue Planet" by safeguarding its wondrous ocean inhabitants.

As shown in the photos on this page, the CSI Board of Directors arranged a full day of activities in celebration of our special supporter from Germany, in whose honor a German flag was flown over the State Capitol on the day of his visit. In addition to an Official Citation from the Connecticut General Assembly, presented to Jakob at the Capitol by Deputy Secretary of State Maria Greenslade, the CSI awarded him a "Cetacean Citation" in appreciation for his far-reaching efforts and exceptional gift.

On a June 16 return visit to the Governor's Office in the State Capitol, where in 1975 then-Governor Ella Grasso signed the bill making the Sperm Whale Connecticut's official State Animal, Cetacean Society leaders show our Heidelberg visitor the state's official sperm whale portrait, painted in 1974 by Richard Ellis. Left to right in photo are Robert Victor, Bill Rossiter, Robbins and Meg Barstow, Don Sineti & Jakob Kollhofer.

Below, Connecticut Deputy Secretary of State Maria Greenslade presents "Official Citation" to Jakob Kollhofer, with CSI's Director Emeritus, Robbins Barstow, sharing in appreciation for his whale conservation efforts. In front of Conny, Science Center President Ed Forand accepts from Bill Rossiter CSI's gift of $500 towards Conny's educational enhancement.

Later, at the site of Conny, CSI Board members joined President Rossiter in presenting to Ed Forand, President and CEO of the Science Center of Connecticut, a check from CSI for $500 to serve as seed money in planning an enhanced educational whale exhibit focusing on Conny for the summer of 2004.

Cheers and thanks to everybody! WHALES ALIVE FOREVER!!

-- by Robbins Barstow (Photos with Meg Barstow's camera)