Rescuers attempt to save stranded killer whale
A rescue attempt to save a killer whale calf stranded in a remote tidal lagoon near Zeballos, B.C., is underway.
Road access to the lagoon is blocked by members of the Ehattesaht First Nation, but an official at the scene said an attempt to get the female orca calf out of the lagoon and transferred into the open ocean began before dawn.
A First Nation official who declined to provide his name said the attempt was launched because of favourable weather conditions.
A statement from the First Nation said work was expected to take “much of the day” and the federal Fisheries Department, the Vancouver Aquarium, and the nation will brief the media when the operation has concluded.
The two-year-old calf has been alone in Little Espinosa Inlet for about three weeks after its pregnant mother was beached at low tide and died on March 23. The pair got into the lagoon by swimming through a narrow and fast-moving channel connecting it to the ocean.
Efforts to persuade the calf to swim back through the shallow channel proved futile.
Earlier this week, federal officials said a team of about two dozen people had assembled to prepare the planned landing area for the complex rescue.
“The operation to move kwiisahi?is to open water and her family is underway this morning,” the Ehattesaht statement said referring to the whale by a name bestowed on her by the nation that means Brave Little Hunter.
Chief Simon John and staff and members of the First Nation were “playing key roles on the water today,” it said.
“The team assembled at 5 a.m. and were set off with good hearts and intention for the day’s work,” it added.
Equipment had been arriving daily in the community of about 200 people, located more than 450 kilometres northwest of Victoria.
The effort involves corralling the female calf into a shallow part of the three-kilometre lagoon, using boats, divers and a net to prevent the whale from moving back into deeper water.