▶ Watch Video: Pod of orcas trapped by thick sea ice off northern Japan, drone footage shows
An orphaned killer whale calf that had been trapped for weeks in a tidal lagoon on Vancouver island, dodging multiple rescue attempts, on Friday swam out on her own, a local Indigenous tribe said.
The Ehattesaht First Nation had watched over the orca calf they named “Brave Little Hunter” after her pregnant mother died on a rocky beach in late March.
They, along with fisheries officials, made several unsuccessful attempts to catch and release her in open waters.
An attempt in mid-April to free the whale involved using a net to corral her into a large fabric sling in shallow waters. The whale managed to dodge a 50-person rescue team that was using boats, divers and sophisticated underwater detection equipment. In another effort, a woman tried to coax the whale out of the lagoon by playing her violin during high tide.
Then suddenly at 2:30 am local time Friday, during high tide on a starry night, she “swam past the sand bar her mother passed away on, under the bridge, down Little Espinosa Inlet and onto Esperanza (Inlet) all on her own,” the Ehattesaht First Nation said in a statement.
A small group watched her go, it said, after being treated to “a long night of (her) breaching and playing.”
The team later caught up with the orca calf in Esperanza Inlet, hoping to “encourage her out toward the open ocean where it is hoped that the Brave Little Hunter’s calls will be heard by her family.”
In a statement, Fisheries and Oceans Canada said its marine mammal rescue team “monitored the animal to ensure it did not become stranded during an upcoming low tide.” The agency also posted drone video of the killer whale.
“The team will also be monitoring the location of the calf while she seeks out her family,” the agency said.
Although there has been tremendous public interest in the little whale’s plight and efforts to save her, authorities asked everyone now to stay clear of the area and the whale itself in order to facilitate her reunion with kin.
Chief Simon John said officials and nation members were putting protective measures in place to ensure the whale has no contact with people or boats.
“Every opportunity needs to be afforded to have her back with her family with as little human interaction as possible,” he said.
The orca’s swim to freedom comes more than two months after a pod of killer whales that were seen trapped by sea ice off the coast of Japan we apparently able to escape.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
