An orca calf stranded for approximately the last month in a remote lagoon near the tiny community of Zeballos, on the northwest coast of Vancouver Island, swam out of the lagoon on her own at about 2:30 am Friday morning, April 26th.
The two-year-old Bigg’s killer whale had entered the lagoon with her pregnant mother while hunting seals. On March 23rd, her mother beached on a sandbar and died despite strenuous attempts by locals to save her. The calf was left alone and stranded because she would or could not swim through the narrow bottleneck past the rocky beach where her mother had perished. In the lagoon, the calf was isolated, with a limited food supply. Orcas depend on their mothers for at least two years after birth and spend their entire lives in family groups. Unlike the family groups of other ecotypes of orcas, those of Bigg’s killer whales, also known as transient killer whales, are matriarchal.
The calf, named kwiisahi?is or “Brave Little Hunter” by local First Nations members, attracted intense concern and eventually became an international news story. Ehattesaht and Nuchatlaht First Nations leaders, staff of the Vancouver Aquarium, Canadian government officials, marine mammal experts, boat, drone, and heavy machine operators, fishermen, and others collaborated in efforts to monitor, comfort, and rescue the calf. Ehattesaht members prayed, drummed, and sang to her from canoes and a violinist played to her from shore. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sent messages of support.
An attempt by a 50-person team to use boats, drones, divers, and underwater detection equipment to capture kwiisahi?is in a sling and net in order to transport her outside of the lagoon failed when the wily calf managed to evade her would-be rescuers. Immediately, Indigenous leaders and allies began planning another elaborate rescue. In the meantime, observers noticed the calf feeding on herring and even birds, something of a surprise since Bigg’s killer whales had been generally thought to feed exclusively on marine mammals. As a result, rescue plans were put on hold. A day or so later, Ehattesaht members celebrated when the orca accepted and ate seal meat they threw to her. This development gave hope that Brave Little Hunter could be lured out of the lagoon with food, eliminating the need for a risky and expensive capture-and-release rescue.
In the wee hours of April 26th, four members of the Ehattesaht and Nuchatlaht First Nations enticed the young orca to exit the lagoon by tossing sea lion meat from a small inflatable boat. After “breaching and playing,” Brave Little Hunter took advantage of high tide and the calm, starlit night to swim safely past the beach, under a bridge, and out of the lagoon into Little Espinosa inlet by herself. From there, kwiisahi?is should be able to reach the open ocean and potentially her extended family.
“We were just amazed . . . how the behaviour of this animal changed when it went from the shallow inlets, where it was restricted, to these wide-open inlets that are very deep,” said Paul Cottrell, a marine mammal expert coordinating with the Canadian Fisheries Department and First Nations leaders. “Her behaviour, her acoustics changed. She actually sped away from the boat and moved into Esperanza Inlet and really took off from the group.” Cottrell, who has been involved in planning kwiisahi?is’s rescue for the past month, and who has worked on numerous other British Columbia whale rescues, described the event as “one of the best experiences” of his life.
Experts are encouraged by the young orca’s resilience and optimistic for her long-term survival. Once she is back in the open ocean, her vocalizations should be audible to other whales, increasing the chances that she can find and rejoin her family group. If Brave Little Hunter is not reunited with other orcas, her odds of long-term survival decrease.
The rescue team will continue to monitor and protect the calf from contact with boats and people in coming weeks. Jared Towers, executive director of Bay Cetology, has offered his organization’s AI technology and photo identification database to track and locate Brave Little Hunter’s family. The last reported sighting of Bigg’s killer whales was southwest of Zeballos weeks ago, near Ucluelet.
“Events like these have a deeper meaning and the timing of her departure will be thought about, talked about and felt for generations to come,” said the Ehattesaht in a public statement.
Kwiisahi?is departed the inlet on the 20-year anniversary of Ehattesaht Chief Simon John’s daughter’s violent death. “It’s been a joyful day, a really joyful day,” said Chief John. “I’m very ecstatic how things happened today.”
I posted an earlier diary about the stranded orca on April 17:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/4/17/2235727/-Orphaned-Orca-Calf-Trapped-in-Vancouver-Lagoon-Inspire
Many thanks to Canadian Kitty, who provided local perspective and useful links in the comments to the earlier diary.
https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/killer-whale-calf-trapped-in-bc-swims-out-of-lagoon
https://westcoastnow.ca/2024/04/26/orca-calf-known-as-brave-little-hunter-swims-free-after-being-trapped-in-bc-lagoon/
https://www.theskeena.com/2024/04/04/orphaned-orca-zeballos-kwiisahiis/
https://bc.ctvnews.ca/stranded-orca-calf-swims-out-of-b-c-lagoon-where-she-was-trapped-for-weeks-1.6863243
https://www.orcaconservancy.org/transient-killer-whales
https://www.nuchatlaht.com
https://ehattesaht.com