Time is running out for stranded, orphaned baby orca near Vancouver Island

UPDATE: On Friday, April 12, a rescue crew attempted to remove the orca calf known as kʷiisaḥiʔis, or Brave Little Hunter, from the lagoon, but were unsuccessful. Every time someone attempted to coax the calf into shallow waters, it evaded them. It remains trapped in the lagoon at the north end of Vancouver Island.

According to Oceans and Fisheries Canada: "During the morning experts and the veterinarian staff from the Vancouver Aquarium were able to get a good look at kʷiisaḥiʔis. She appears to still be in good health, her breathing is solid and she is swimming well."

The current plan is to get Brave Little Hunter onto a truck, then transport her to open waters, hopefully near where her extended family are located.

Members of the Ehattesaht First Nation spent the remaining afternoon singing to the orca from a nearby canoe.

Original article

When Gary Sutton first heard that a Biggs Killer Whale was stuck in a lagoon along the coast of Vancouver Island, he could immediately tell by her distinctive white eye patch who it was: T109A3.

“I know we call her by a letter and a number. It doesn't sound too personal,” Sutton said. “But, we know her very well. We know her as a daughter, a sister, an aunt, and of course a mother. It was heartbreaking to see her in that situation.”

RELATED: It's getting quieter in Puget Sound and easier for orcas to find dinner

The orca was trapped in the mile-and-a-half long lagoon, along with her calf, on March 23.

Sutton’s heartbreak was compounded when he learned the 14-and-a-half-year-old orca died after she got stuck on a sandbar, leaving her calf, T109A3A, all alone in the lagoon.

Members of the Ehattesaht First Nation call the two-and-a-half year old “kwiisahi?is”, or Brave Little Hunter.

Now the race is on to get Brave Little Hunter back to open water, and reunited with its pod, but no one is sure how best to achieve that goal.

Sutton works with the whale research group Bay Cetology in British Columbia. He, along with other marine biologists, believe the mother and her calf were hunting seals in the lagoon during a high tide.

“I guess as the tide went out, she became stuck on the tidal flat. Unfortunately, she got stuck on her side,” Sutton said.

According to Sutton, killer whales have gotten stranded on Canadian shores before, and all have survived because they either wound up on their stomachs or were helped into that position by rescue crews. This prevents the whale’s blowhole from becoming submerged so it can safely float out in the rising tides.

“Despite the best efforts of everybody on scene, they were unable to get her on her belly in time,” Sutton said.

As the mother drowned in the rising tide, her calf continued to swim nearby.

“It swam around in circles at the entrance of the lagoon, it hasn’t left since despite our efforts,” Sutton said.

Even though the calf has been stuck in the lagoon for approximately two weeks, Canadian Fisheries officials were able to remove the mother’s body and perform a necropsy.

The results revealed another tragedy — she was healthy and pregnant with a second calf.

Trying to Coax Brave Little Hunter

Fortunately, Brave Little Hunter is healthy. Sutton said the mother did a good job of taking care of the calf. He doesn’t don’t know the calf’s sex, but says it has been vocalizing and was seen eating a bird. It’s also been interacting with researchers and their boats.

Sutton said that’s a good sign.

RELATED: Why are these killer whales increasingly showing up in the Salish Sea?

The goal now is to get the calf back out to open waters, so it can be reunited with its other relatives. Rescue teams along with members of the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans have tried playing previously recorded calls from the calf’s pod to coax it out into deeper waters. The technique has worked in the past.

“That was our first strategy, but it didn’t work as well as it has in the past,” Sutton explained. “It could be due to the age of the animal. It could still be dealing with this trauma, and isn’t ready to leave.”

They’ve also tried something called hukilau. It’s an old Hawaiian method of fish-corralling that uses a horizontal fishing line, with dangling lines below. The lines are dragged across the surface of the water and are used to steer wayward whales toward the ocean.

That hasn’t worked on the calf either.

Getting Brave Little Hunter to freedom

Researchers are hoping Brave Little Hunter will catch a high tide and ride it out to the ocean. If that doesn’t happen, fisheries officials and tribal members may use a sling to load the calf onto a truck, so they drive it to an ocean net pen, where it can be reunited with its family.

Tribal leaders say they also have access to helicopters and may consider airlifting the calf to open waters, but those plans are on hold, for now.

Officials will update their rescue plans in the coming weeks.

“We’ll never give up on it. That’s for sure. We’ll keep doing everything we can to try to help that little one,” Sutton said.

RELATED: Orcas are actually not one species, but three

The calf, and its mother are part of a larger Biggs Killer Whale pod and come from a long line of fertile females. Sutton says in addition to swimming with the calf’s grandmother and aunts, it has several cousins. Many have been seen in recent days swimming approximately 100 miles south of the lagoon.

If the calf can reunite with its extended family, the hope is the pod will help it survive until it’s a self-sufficient adult.

“The idea is: Killer whales are so bonded to each other, particularly with their family. I believe there’s a good chance that if it is able to locate them, and make its signature calls towards them that it would be able to join back up with them,” said Sutton.

“This is all speculation and hope, but it is merited.”