B.C. woman tries to coax trapped orca calf out of tidal lagoon with her violin
Carol Love watches the tides at a Vancouver Island lagoon, and when the time is right, she starts to play her violin.
She plays for an audience of one, a killer whale calf that has been trapped alone in the lagoon for almost a month.
Preparations for more conventional efforts to save the whale continue, involving a large fishing net.
But Love, from Nanaimo, B.C., stands and plays on a bridge at high tide, hoping her music entices the young orca to swim through a narrow channel, under the bridge and into the open ocean to freedom, no net required.
“She was curious,” Love said Thursday after an afternoon recital for the female orca, named kwiisahi?is, or Brave Little Hunter, by the Ehattesaht First Nation.
“It came closer to me,” she said. “It absolutely did. I'm glad I got to see her today, especially if they are going to get her out.”
Love, a Canadian military veteran, said her first visit to the bridge Wednesday night didn't work, but she did see the orca calf rise to the surface in the distance.
“A lot of my violin notes sound like orca, so hopefully she'd resonate with some of my sound and coax (herself) underneath and out to the ocean,” she said. “Every high tide I'll be on this bridge playing for her.”
Love isn't the only one working to free the whale from the lagoon near Zeballos, 450 kilometres northwest of Victoria, where it has been alone since its pregnant mother became stranded on a rocky beach at low tide and died.
A rescue team continues to prepare to catch the killer whale calf in a net and transport it to the nearby ocean.
Ehattesaht First Nation Chief Simon John would not confirm the exact timing of the next rescue attempt in an interview on Thursday, other than say, “it is going to happen eventually.”
An attempt last Friday involved more than 50 people using boats, nets, and drones. But they were unable to corral the young orca to a shallow area of the lagoon where they planned to manoeuvre it into a sling, lift it onto a truck, then take it on a barge out to sea, for a potential reunion with its pod.
More rescue equipment has been arriving over the past few days, including a large seine netting boat from Campbell River's Homalco First Nation.
Road access to the planned rescue site at the shallow end of the Little Espinosa Inlet lagoon was blocked Thursday afternoon, with a sign saying: “Active work site, no unauthorized access permitted.”
John said the Ehattesaht First Nation is committed to the whale's rescue.
“We need to save it,” he said. “We're all family in our community and family matters, and family matters to the whale that we are trying to help and get her to her pod. It's very important.”
Love was doing her bit by playing her violin along to a recording of her favourite song, “Tennessee Whiskey” by country singer Chris Stapleton.
“Everything's been tried and you have to think outside the box,” Love said.
“I'm out of my skin with joy,” she said, getting “goose pimples” at the prospect of successfully luring the whale with her music. “I really would love it if it works.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 18, 2024.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
'What have we done?' Lawyer describes shock at possible role in Trump's 2016 victory
A lawyer who negotiated a pair of hush money deals at the centre of Donald Trump's criminal trial recalled Thursday his "gallows humor" reaction to Trump's 2016 election victory and the realization that his hidden-hand efforts might have contributed to the win.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
New scam targets Canada Carbon Rebate recipients
Fake text message and email campaigns trying to get money and information out of unsuspecting Canadian taxpayers have started circulating, just months after the federal government rebranded the carbon tax rebate the Canada Carbon Rebate.
Universities grapple with the complicated politics of campus encampments
Montreal police are facing pressure to move in and dismantle a pro-Palestinian encampment on McGill University campus on Thursday, as a growing number of universities across this country grapple with the tough decision of how to handle the protests.
Conservative MP says Chinese hacking attack targeted his personal email
A Conservative MP is challenging claims by House of Commons administration that a China-backed hacking attempt did not impact any members of Parliament, because the attack was on his personal email.
Loblaw leaders call criticism 'misguided,' say they aren't to blame for high food prices
Loblaw chairman Galen Weston and the company's new CEO are pushing back against critics who blame the grocery giant for soaring food prices, as a month-long boycott of the retailer gets underway.
Heavy police presence at McGill University as counter-protesters assemble opposite pro-Palestinian encampment
A heavy police presence was at McGill University on Thursday morning, as counter-protesters assembled opposite the pro-Palestinian encampment at the school.