Stranded baby orca swims free after being trapped in a BC lagoon for 5 weeks

The baby orca known as Brave Little Hunter is swimming free after spending weeks trapped in a lagoon off of Vancouver Island. But work is not finished to ensure the wellbeing of the calf.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada reports that Brave Little Hunter — aka kʷiisaḥiʔis — was able to swim out of the lagoon early Friday morning.

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"Five weeks ... there's been a lot of ups and downs, twists and turns, given the death of mom, and figuring out the best way to approach the situation, and recognizing that the animal was likely nutritionally impacted," said Paul Cottrell with Fisheries and Oceans Canada at a press event Friday afternoon.

In late March, the calf became trapped in the lagoon with its mother, known as T109A3. The pair swam into the lagoon during high tide and became stuck when the water retreated. The mother did not survive as the water levels declined. The calf, however, has remained in the lagoon ever since and officials with Fisheries and Oceans Canada, along with members of the Nuchatlaht First Nation and Ehattesaht First Nation, have attempted to rescue it.

An attempt to get the calf out of the water and onto a truck failed on April 12.

On April 25, during a high tide, a rescue crew with members of the Nuchatlaht First Nation and Ehattesaht First Nation used an inflatable vessel and sea lion meat to coax the calf out of the lagoon. It took time, but it worked.

"Yesterday, with moving the calf to the causeway, so close to getting her (out of the lagoon), unfortunately she didn't (leave) and it was a low tide," Cottrell said, noting they watched the calf overnight. "Then at about 2:30 a.m. ... we actually saw her disappear and we believe that she went through. We confirmed that this morning."

In the early morning hours of April 26, Brave Little Hunter made her way out of the lagoon entirely. She was soon spotted swimming in the Espinosa Inlet, heading toward the Esperanza Inlet.

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The mission now is to reunite Brave Little Hunter with her extended orca family. Rescue crews are working to encourage the calf to swim toward more open water, however, it is not exactly known where she is. Crews are monitoring the location of other Bigg's killer whales in the region.

Cottrell noted that Brave Little Hunter's family pod has not been seen for nearly three weeks. The pod, and other Bigg's killer whale pods, are known to swim this particular area quite often, and that gives rescuers hope.

"They do frequent this particular area ... we're very optimistic that there will be a reunification, whether it's her pod or another Biggs pod. They're good at adopting calfs," Cottrell said.

This is a developing story and will be updated.