New strategy being tested, hopes remain high in effort to reunite orphaned orca with family

Marine mammal experts who’re trying to escort an orphaned killer whale out of a B.C. lagoon will be trying a new strategy on day four at the remote scene near Zeballos.

An analyst with a conservation group that’s helping with the efforts says Bigg’s killer whales don’t seem to like lines on the water’s surface or dangling from it – so the team had been planning to string one across two boats then move toward the entrance of the lagoon.

“And hopefully the whale is deterred by that and will exit through under the bridge and back into open waters,” says Bay Cetology analyst Gary Sutton.

“All the boats are getting ready to guide her out of the bay to reunite with her family,” says Nuchatlaht fisheries employee, Judae Smith early in the afternoon. She says five members of the calf’s family have been spotted in the Kyuquot area and two around Yuquot.

In a statement, the elected chief of Ehattesaht First Nation says he’s relying on the advice from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and is meeting with them often. The nation says the baby is being called kʷiisaḥiʔis [kwee-sa-hay-is], which means “Brave Little Hunter.”

“We will have to think about her safety and limiting all the human interaction so we will be closing the road for most of the day with local traffic only passing,” says Chief Simon John.

On Saturday, the two-year-old calf’s mother died after getting trapped on a gravel bar at low tide in Little Espinoza Inlet– despite community efforts to refloat the large mammal as the tide was coming up.

“We think she may have been there for a few hours but I don’t want to guess,” says John. “Certainly it is heartbreaking being there and being helpless.”

“The lagoon has a narrow entrance way and the water rushes in and out. It has always been a hunting ground for the killer whales looking for seals and I guess she went too far up the beach at the exact wrong time. It is something we will want fixed,” adds John. 

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans, with the help of Nuchatlaht and Ehattesaht First Nations, performed a necropsy on the transient whale Monday. It was then people discovered the orca had been pregnant.

“To see the calf was another shot in the gut as if there wasn’t enough of one already,” says Sutton.

Yesterday the team had also tried coaxing the surviving calf out of the lagoon by playing recordings of calls by close family members, but it didn’t have the same effect as past cases.

“I’m still hopeful,” says Sutton. “And I think the vibe around the area is still hopeful as well.”