Rescuers work tirelessly to save beached whale
STRANDED: INCREDIBLE RESCUE OF AN ORCA Team details ‘emotional’ experience trying to keep the animal wet
When a young orca whale stranded on jagged rocks on B.C.’s North Coast cried out in pain, Janie Wray felt sorrow run through her whole body.
Wray, a member of the environmental research group Whale Point, was among a team of residents and environmental workers who worked desperately for almost nine hours Wednesday to keep the female calf cool and wet before the tide was high enough for it to swim away.
“It was so heartbreaking,” she said, speaking from Hartley Bay, a remote First Nations community about 145 kilometres south of Prince Rupert. “She was calling out from land. A transient call is quite mellow and has a sad tone to it, so listening to her — oh my gosh — that just goes right through your body and your heart.”
Whale researcher Eric Keen was out in his boat surveying the area when he came across the young orca whale wedged between some rocks on land.
He immediately called the local environmental group Whale Point and the Gitga’at Guardian Watchmen, a coastal stewardship network that supports First Nations to monitor and protect the land and water in Hartley Bay.
With a team of rescuers on the way, he got to work.
He knew he would have to keep the whale cool and wet. But due to his isolated location, popping into the nearest big box store for supplies was not an option.
So, like something out of the late 1980s television show MacGyver, Keen deftly fashioned a water pump using material on the boat.
“What he rigged together was remarkable. He literally got a pump and a hose and we used duct tape,” said Wray. “It worked ... and we used that while others soaked sheets. It broke down later in the day so we just went to buckets.”
The rescuers climbed up the rocky shore and carefully approached the whale.
They didn’t want to scare her. She was moaning and in apparent pain, and they needed to act fast.
The tide had just gone out and it would be eight or nine hours until it was high enough for the whale to slip free.
They also knew that moving the whale was impossible because of the sharp rocks.
“Had Eric not seen her, we can’t say that she would have survived that many hours on the beach. Even a couple of minutes and her skin would go very dry.”
The orca had some scrapes from the rocks, including blood on her tail and pectorals.
Although the whale was crying out when they first approached, Wray said after some time she calmed down and closed her eyes.
“It was as if she realized we were there to help her,” she said. “Her breathing remained the same, and then the (tide) started to come up.”
Bettina Saier of the World Wildlife Fund, who was part of the team watching on a boat nearby, said it was a “very emotional experience” to witness the ordeal.
“I was very surprised to see, that after a short amount of time, the whale calmed down considerably when the rescue team ... covered her in cool wet blankets and poured over buckets of water to keep her alive.”
After the tide came up, the team waited until the last second to take the sheets off, leave and watch from a distance.
Wray said the whale began lifting her tail, as though testing the height of the water.
“It was very intelligent on her behalf. Her level of patience was shocking because you know she just wanted to go. Then that moment came. ... She took off like a bullet. She was gone so fast and vocalizing, vocalizing toward her family,” she said.
“It was a very stressful, emotional day. But such a fabulous ending when she was set free.”
A pod of whales could be seen in the ocean near where the young whale was stranded, and appeared to be waiting, Wray added. It’s believed they were the young whale’s family. She said they will be spending the next few days out on the water in hopes they can spot the young whale with its pod.
Dr. Martin Haulena, head veterinarian at the Vancouver Aquarium, said it is rare to see a killer whale stranded, adding that when it happens it’s usually an indication there is something wrong with the animal.
Haulena said the act of stranding can cause severe muscle damage because whales are not designed to support their own body weight and their circulation becomes compromised.
“There were some pretty nasty looking rocks supporting that weight. I would be quite concerned about muscle damage with that animal.”
Health concerns could include lung problems, and toxins from dead and dying muscles could affect the kidneys and heart, he added.
“I think the folks in Hartley Bay did a really great job with the resources they had,” he said. “It’s a good sign that the animal swam off on its own. But it doesn’t mean that it’s 100 per cent.”