||| FROM CTV NEWS, VANCOUVER |||
An orca calf that was stranded in a remote B.C. lagoon for weeks after her pregnant mother died swam out to freedom early Friday morning.
On Thursday, members of the Ehattesaht First Nation used seal meat to guide the two-year-old calf – who was given the name kʷiisaḥiʔis, or Brave Little Hunter – towards the bridge she and her mother swam under when they first became trapped in late March.
Ehattesaht Chief Simon John said the calf stalled there for hours overnight, but eventually swam out at around 2:30 a.m. during high tide.
“It’s been a joyful day,” John said. “There was a lot of anticipation for this moment for the last five weeks, and I think, you know, what happened today is something our communities can rejoice in.”
The calf’s release followed multiple collaborative rescue attempts involving the First Nation, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, the Vancouver Aquarium’s Marine Mammal Rescue Society and others.
Several of the people involved remained on the water with kʷiisaḥiʔis to monitor her overnight – and watched her disappear from view early Friday before re-emerging on the other side of the bridge.
Paul Cottrell, marine mammal co-ordinator with the DFO, said the calf’s behaviour changed almost instantly after she escaped the shallow lagoon and made it into the much-deeper Espinosa Inlet.
“Her acoustics changed,” Cottrell said. “She actually sped away from the boat.”
I’m so glad to hear this!! I hope and pray that she thrives in these waters.