Orphaned orca calf Previously trapped in a Canadian lagoon Free after 1 month or more.
The 2-year-old female is known as kʷiisaḥiʔis, which roughly translates to „brave little hunter“ in the Ehatesaht indigenous language.
On March 23, she became stranded on a mudflat on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, after her pregnant mother went ashore during low tide and died. A baby orca could be seen swimming in circles in the nearby shallows, screaming.
Ehatesart Nation described her cries as „sad“, adding: „Leaving them unanswered makes our hearts sink.“ According to the Guardian.
Indigenous members, Canadian fisheries officials, scientists and other experts worked for weeks to free the calf. CBC reported. Attempts to guide the killer whales in the right direction by playing recordings of them, using boats to coax them out of the lagoon, and trying to capture them with slings failed.
Last week, rescuers were able to buy the orca some time by feeding the calf chunks of seal meat that had been discarded in the water after they feared it would become malnourished.
The animal swam out of the lagoon of its own accord early Friday morning, but the Guardian noted that hours before her escape, rescuers guided her towards the bottleneck and she was eventually able to escape. .
„At 2:30 a.m. at high tide on a clear, glassy, calm, starry night, Kaisai crossed the sandbar where his mother had died, passed under a bridge, down the Lesser Espinosa Inlet, and swam alone to Esperanza. ”Ehatesahite people He wrote this on his official Facebook page. I shared a video about the happy news.
Ehatesart said rescuers were „encouraging“ her out of the cove and towards the open sea.
The biggest challenge for killer whales once they return to the open sea is finding their pods. Martin Haulena, director of mammal health at the Vancouver Aquarium, told CBC that two-year-old killer whales are typically still „very dependent“ on their mother and family group. But she said she was „confident“ that if the killer whale was reunited with her pod, they would bring her back.
Meanwhile, Ehatesart provincial chief Simon John said in a statement that wildlife officials and First Nations are asking the public to stay away from the area as they do their best to get the calf home. To the Associated Press.
„We need to give her every opportunity to return to her family with as little interaction as possible,“ he says.