Zeballos, British Columbia The odds remain good that a two-year-old killer whale calf will survive alone in the high seas and eventually be reunited with its family if rescue teams manage to pull the killer whale out of a Vancouver Island lagoon. moon.
A second attempt to rescue an orca was put on hold Friday after the calf ate an 18-kilogram portion of seal meat thought to have been found in Little Espinoza Bay near Zeballos, B.C. For the first time since the tidal lagoon ran aground. of the ocean and released.
Confirmation of footage of an orca calf eating seal meat has given a rescue team made up of First Nations leaders, federal Department of Fisheries experts and fishing experts more time to consider their options.
“I think her chances of success are very good,” said marine scientist Jared Towers, who has been with the rescue team since the calf was stranded alone on March 23 after its pregnant mother died. cooperate.
“She proved to be very resilient here during the three-and-a-half weeks that we knew she was trapped in the entrance,” he said. “She was healthy considering she didn’t eat much during that time. Her behavior Like a killer whale. She’s on the phone. She’s broadcasting that she’s nearby, and that’s what she needs to connect with other whales.
Towers, who studies the movement, behavior and abundance of whales on British Columbia’s west coast with Bay Cetology, said he spotted the gray whale on Friday in the waters off Zeballos, more than 450 kilometers northwest of Victoria. But there are no recent signs that killer whales may be related to the trapped calves.
He said the last confirmed sightings of members of the young orca pod were more than two weeks ago in the Barkley Bay area south of Zeballos and near Port Alberni.
The calf, about 3 meters long and estimated to weigh about 700 kilograms, was named kwiisahi?is, meaning “brave little hunter”, by the local Ehattesaht Aboriginal people.
“This group is known as the Biggar killer whale, which are short-lived killer whales that have several families, and the T109 lineage now includes 24 living members, including kwiisahi?is,” Talles said. “Many of them People spent a lot of time on the west coast of Vancouver Island, roaming between here and Haida Gwaii and even occasionally walking in the Salish Sea.”
He said it’s not uncommon for young orcas to leave their family groups for long periods of time and return later, a trait that gives rescue teams hope that the young orca will eventually be reunited with her family if she ever makes it back home.
Paul Cottrell, marine mammal coordinator for the federal Department of Fisheries, said the orca calf’s willingness to eat seal meat provided by local Aboriginal fisheries managers has given the rescue team confidence.
He said rescue teams may now explore a “carrot option” to lure the killer whales into shallower waters by using seal meat to attract them.
Cottrell said if the team succeeds in releasing the young killer whale into the open ocean, members hope to observe her movements and hopefully report on an ocean family reunion.
“We are considering satellite tagging the calf, but that would also add additional stress to the animal and there is a possibility of infection,” he said. “We will continue to monitor the area if the animal is released. We It should be known within a relatively short time whether the animals are reunited with the pod.”
Cottrell said the west coast of Vancouver Island is home to many First Nations, whale researchers and boaters “who keep us informed of where the whales are.”
Towers said he was also optimistic about the calf’s chances of success, noting that similar rescue efforts and subsequent reunions had been successful in the past.
“More than ten years ago, we also rescued a four-year-old female Beagle killer whale. The situation was similar to that of more than ten years ago,” he said. “That whale was in much worse health than the Quaysahi whale, and it took a few weeks for that whale to finally show up again, and then a few months until after that sighting, it was alone with the other whales. appear together.
The whale is now a healthy adult female, he added.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on April 21, 2024.
Dirk Meissner, Canadian Press
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