(Photo : Wikimedia Commons/Mike Baird)
A baby orca is finally on its way to the open ocean after a month of circling the lagoon where its mother passed away. Rescuers were already worried that it would starve to death as it refused to return to the open sea.
Orphan Baby Orca Leaves Canadian Lagoon, Returns to Sea
The 2-year-old baby orca was stranded on a Canadian lagoon for a month. It refused to leave the area where its mom died. Wildlife officials had tried to persuade it to return to the open water using whale calls and a sling.
On Friday, the baby orca named kʷiisaḥiʔis (pronounced kwee-sahay-is), which means "Brave Little Hunter," swam out of the lagoon at high tide on its own. It reached the Espinosa inlet, which led it to the open sea.
The calf selected a "clear and glass-calm, star-filled night" to swim out of the lagoon and beneath a bridge to the inlet, according to the tribe members of the Ehattesaht and Nuchatlaht First Nations.
"Today, the community of Zeballos and people everywhere are waking up to some incredible news and what can only be described as pride for the strength this little orca has shown," said Ehattesaht Chief Simon John on Friday.
He said the calf started eating the seal meat provided by the tribe last week, and rescuers hoped it would follow a trail of food they had left to lead it out of the lagoon.
Kʷiisaḥiʔis was seen playing near the bridge the night before it escaped the lagoon, and John said he had high hopes for her to reintegrate into the sea.
The young killer whale was reportedly very healthy. There are multiple footage showing it enjoying its time around the bridge area. It was also seen playing near the area before she escaped the lagoon.
According to Paul Cottrell, a marine mammal coordinator with the Fisheries Department, they were amazed at how fast kʷiisaḥiʔis' mood changed when she went from the shallow inlets to the wide-open inlets that were very deep. The baby orca reportedly sped away from the boat and moved into the Esperanza inlet.
Cottrell, who has worked on numerous whale rescues, said that it was up to the baby orca to survive. However, they were confident that it would eventually reunite with her pod.
Rescuers will continue to monitor Kwiisahi?is' progress to ensure she's safe and will not come in close contact with people or boats.
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Baby Orca Refused To Leave Dead Mother in Lagoon
In March, a road maintenance worker called to report seeing a beached whale. The rescuers tried to save the mom named Spong, who got stranded in the lagoon. They rolled her onto her belly and doused her with water, but she didn't survive. The post-mortem showed that Spong was pregnant.
The experts tried to lure kʷiisaḥiʔis back into the ocean using metal pipes known as oikomi pipes, which reverberate in the water and are typically employed to herd whales away from oil spills. However, the calf retreated even more into the lagoon.
The experts were concerned that the orca would starve to death in its mother's final resting place. Also, they didn't want the young for fear that it would rely on humans for survival and it would be a hard habit to break.
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