Stranded killer whale eludes attempted rescue
An orphaned killer whale stranded in a remote Vancouver Island lagoon is proving difficult for rescuers to catch.
An official at the site said the capture operation is in the “demobilization stage” Friday after an unsuccessful attempt to rescue the twoyear-old orca that began before dawn.
Ehattesaht First Nation Chief Simon John says they plan to try again in a couple of days, saying rescuers were “standing down.”
The First Nation said earlier that the rescue was launched at 5 a.m. because of favourable weather conditions.
The rescue plan involves trying to corral the female calf into a shallow part of the three-kilometre lagoon, using boats, divers and a net, before she would be placed in a large fabric sling and hoisted onto a transport vehicle.
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.
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.
Equipment had been arriving daily in the community of about 200 people, located more than 450 kilometres northwest of Victoria.
The department previously discussed initially holding the young orca in an ocean net pen until freeing her when members of the mother’s family were nearby, but now it says she will be released directly into open water where it’s thought she is most likely to encounter her family pod.