Fabulous events are rare and even rarer is a fabulist worthy of them. A Whale for the Killing is a magnificent instance of this conjunction, perhaps because Farley Mowat was not merely the chronicler of this little tragedy which provides a microcosm of our planetary condition, but also the fabulously conscious participant.

The scene was Aldridge Pond, a salt-water enclosure on the southern side of Newfoundland, not far from Burgeo. Burgeo used to be one of many small "outposts" from which fishermen would catch cod in the time-honoured way, but when Newfoundland was merged with Canada, Joe Smallwood, the Newfoundland Prime Minister, pursued a policy of industrialization at any price.

Burgeo became a fish-factory town, with independent fishing families from other outports now working as cheap labour for outside bosses….

In January 1967 a pod of fin whales appeard off Burgeo, as it had done for a few winters...