Orca rescue team returns boats to lure their calves to the ocean

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ZEBALLOS – The effort to convince a young orca to return to the open ocean after the death of its mother on northern Vancouver Island has included using orca calls, trying special guide lines and playing indigenous drums, without success .

The tidal window at Little Espinosa Inlet is short, just 30 minutes, which would allow the calf to swim safely.

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But the calf won’t leave the cove where her mother died last Saturday after becoming stranded when the tide went out.

“We look forward to connecting with her and seeing if she follows the drum,” Ehattesaht First Nation Chief Simon John said in a statement. “It’s worked in the past.”

John and Fisheries Department officials could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday as they were on boats in the lagoon where cellular contact is not available.

The lagoon is located near the remote town of Zeballos, more than 450 kilometers northwest of Victoria.

“It’s really hard to understand the work,” John said in a previous interview. “It doesn’t happen very often, so there’s no playbook that covers this. But we know the waters here and we, the Department of Fisheries staff, have been working with these mammals for years, so we will bring all that experience to every decision as we move forward.

“The goal is to reunite her with her family in the kindest way possible.”

The Ehattesaht First Nation has given the young calf a name: kwiisahi?is, which means brave little hunter.

The community was planning a ceremonial dinner Thursday night where the calf will be formally named, John said.

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The young orca is about two years old and was probably still dependent on its mother for milk and food.

He faces difficult challenges feeding himself and getting out of the lagoon without adult guidance, John said.

“We tried to gently get the calf out of the lagoon and into Little Espinosa Inlet,” John said. “Unfortunately, the sandbar on the road appears to still be a barrier and she is still there. “The water is shallow along the bar at the entrance to the lagoon, even during moderately high tides.”

The chief said the area is known as an excellent seal hunting ground for orcas, but poses challenges, including optimal 30-minute tide opportunities, for entering and exiting the area.

The calf’s mother died in the lagoon as local residents rushed to help her.

It is estimated that it weighed up to 10 tons. A necropsy of the mother orca, a 15-year-old Bigg’s orca, showed that she was pregnant with a female fetus when she died.

Paul Cottrell, marine mammal coordinator for the Department of Fisheries’ Pacific region, said the pregnancy may have contributed to the mother’s death as she was unable to maneuver off the beach.

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The Department of Fisheries and First Nations leaders are now reconsidering their options for a rescue plan for the young orca, Cottrell said at a news conference Wednesday.

The rescue team is thinking about other ways to get the young whale out to sea, depending on its health, Cottrell said.

When asked about rescue options during the news conference, he said they are not ruling out an attempt to put the calf in a sling and take it back to the open ocean.

He said it’s possible the orca calf could survive up to two weeks in the lagoon without food.

John said rescuers are faced with the difficult decision of feeding the calf to keep it alive, but then leaving it open so it can get used to being fed and not leaving the lagoon.

“We are mourning the loss of the mother and are trying to help the young woman find her family,” he said. “It really is something that sounds familiar to the natives. “This loss and this fight for the next generation.”

— By Dirk Meissner in Victoria

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