Rescue of trapped killer whale calf underway

Well, time is of the essence. The two year old female transient killer whale has been stuck in the tidal lagoon near the village of Zabala since March 23rd and that was when it’s pregnant mother became trapped by the low tide and died. And for weeks, the community, First Nation and experts, including members of the Hot Sat, First Nation DFO, marine mammal experts and whale scientists, have been gathered there to plan how to free the orca calf. Dean Stoltz from Check News has more on the preparations for the rescue. Experts with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans have been planning every angle of this rescue attempt for days. The sling that will carry the orca, if it works, was tested as well. A large excavator is seen lifting the sling, then setting it into the ocean, then moving it around again into the back of a flatbed truck with rails. It’s unsure where the orca will be taken After that, plans are still in the works. This Saturday will be 3 weeks since the young orca, now named Quisa Heyas, was orphaned when its mother died after it got trapped in shallow water. Several other attempts to lead the baby orca to safety since then have failed. So this well planned rescue could be the final effort to save the orca. I’m joined here in studio by CBC reporter Joel Ballard. Hi, Joel. Hi Michelle. Thanks for having me. Well, thank you for joining us. I know I sit beside you in The Newsroom and I’ve seen you, you know, heard you making phone calls and talking to other reporters as well. Tell us, what is the effort that’s happening today? Well, really, today’s effort came as a bit of a surprise to probably anyone who wasn’t involved in the rescue itself. Ask any reporter here. And we were pretty shocked because yesterday we were hearing how the rescue was likely going to happen in four or five days. But continuously through this whole process, we’ve heard from the experts that this is a complex rescue mission that depends on a lot of factors. Lining up is the weather. Do we have the right conditions with the weather? Are the tides higher? Are they low? Are they where they need to be? Do we know where the the stranded orca calf’s family pod is? Are they waiting nearby? So without talking to the rescuers yet today, because obviously they’re a little busy, we have to assume that perhaps some of those elements have lined up and that’s why we had this sudden initiation of the rescue today. And then we did hear from the Department of Fisheries in ocean saying OK with, we can confirm that we’ve started this attempt. Yeah, so we heard a bit from Dean Stoltz there in his pack. But basically what we know in the preparations and who knows if this has changed for today. But as of yesterday, the plan was to use a large net to sort of corral the orca named Chris, as you, as you said earlier, to sort of corral it to an area so they can capture it. And to do that, they might even have to tranquilise the calf. At that point they will get it onto a sling. And we saw some of those rescue efforts that they were practicing yesterday where an excavator will lift the sling, ideally with the orca in it, out of the water. And we saw them practicing moving that sling over to the bed of a transport truck. Wow. And then the goal is of course getting the orca out to the ocean where it can hopefully be reunited. But of course, it’s a challenging rescue because this is a large live, unpredictable animal. Absolutely. I mean when I just imagine when we work with little fish in our aquariums, you know, trying to lift it in in in our little Nets and think about that kind of operation. And now this orca, this two year old calf, it it’s been stranded there for nearly three weeks now in this, you know, shallow lagoon. What do we know about her condition? Yeah, so I had a chance or or CBC News spoke with Andrew Traits. He’s the director of UBC’s Mammal Research Program. And he said one of the biggest concerns why this is so critical that this rescue happens is because the whale needs to eat. You know, we, we did hear reports from DFO who said they they saw the whale with a bird in its mouth, which is good news. But of course whales, they’re large, large mammals and and this type of whale, the transient killer whale, it eats mammals, it doesn’t just live off of fish like our Southern residents. So it requires an abundance of food. And not just that, but it needs fresh water, which it gets from mostly its food. Wow, OK. So again, it’s it’s like fingers crossed that all all things have aligned. The conditions are well enough so that they can continue with this rescue. And she is right, basically taken out to open water. What is the plan once that happens? Well, one of the other challenges we heard from the Hatasat First Nation yesterday is that they were told by the DFO that they aren’t sure whether the the calf’s family pod can actually hear its calls. So of course it calls out through the water and usually the water reverberates that sound and it can travel. But because that sandbar is so shallow, it’s hard for that sound to get through. So they don’t even know right now if the family is receiving that message message. So right now the plan is to bring it to open water where hopefully they will be able to connect it with its family pod. And then that brings up the question of will someone in that family pod take on those motherly roles? Because, of course, the calf’s mother passed away. So will the grandmother, Will the aunt take on those roles? It’s kind of unprecedented at this point, and we just don’t know. It is a matrilineal family, isn’t it? Joel, thank you so much. Thank you for having me. Joel Ballard Staying on this story for us as the rescue attempt of a trapped killer whale calf is underway near Zabalas on Vancouver Island.