We must do better
for all life in our seas

Efforts continue to save trapped orca calf in isolated inlet on Vancouver Island

By Irwin Rapoport

Updated April 26, 2024

Breaking News

Just hours after this article was published, Brave Little Hunter, the trapped orca, swam out of the inlet on its own. She has not yet entered the ocean, but she is in the channel on her way to find her family. The rescue team was taken by surprise in a good way. The orca recovered from the death of her mom, regained her strength, and after mapping out the inlet and figuring out the high tide periods, solved the problem. Way to go!

Of course, many thanks to the combined First Nations, Department of Fisheries and Oceans, and marine mammal experts who comprised the rescue team that was tireless in its efforts. We’re in your debt.

Orcas or killer whales are sentient creatures with a full range of emotions and thoughts living in tight family pods, moving as one as they patrol their territories for food and live out their long lives. The British Columbia and Washington State coastline, especially from the north of Seattle to several hundred miles north of Vancouver Island, is home to several well-known pods researchers have been following and studying for decades.

A pod, whether it inhabits a territory along the coastline or in deeper water in the Pacific far from shore, consists of members ranging from elders to newborns. Orcas are found worldwide in most oceans and seas. A new pod of orcas has been discovered along the Pacific coastline in the northwest that primarily hunts and feeds on grey whales. The pods calling the Oregon and B.C. coast home specialize in either feeding on salmon or seals, supplemented by sea birds and sea otters.

… a two-year-old orca calf has been trapped in a tidal lagoon near Little Espinosa Inlet since March 23. A sandbar prevents the calf from returning to sea to rejoin its family pod. But there is more to this story.

There are no recorded incidents of orcas ever hunting and feeding on humans. Orcas are curious about us, just as we are fascinated by them, and they do check us out. A few sea kayakers have been lucky enough to have orcas swim around them. Some of these encounters are filmed and you can see how these intelligent creatures are gentle when checking us out.

Orcas are extremely intelligent, and we have videos of them hunting seals in Antarctic waters. A pursued seal will clamber upon a large piece of floating ice to escape them. However, the orcas, working as a team, use their weight and speed to create large waves that cause the iceberg to sway with the goal of having the seal fall into the water. We also have footage of Antarctic and Southern Pacific pods specialized in hunting seals within a few feet of the shore. It can be dangerous, but it is a successful technique taught to calves for thousands of years.

This takes us to the northern community of Zeballos, 450 kilometres northwest of Victoria on Vancouver Island, where a two-year-old orca calf has been trapped in a tidal lagoon near Little Espinosa Inlet since March 23. A sandbar prevents the calf from returning to sea to rejoin its family pod. But there is more to this story.

It all began when the calf followed its twelve-year-old mother into the inlet, where the mom would teach it to hunt seals near the shoreline. Sadly, the mom, who was pregnant, beached herself on the rocky shore and, despite non-stop efforts of the Ehattesaht First Nation and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, could not be saved. It was a heartbreaking moment for the rescue teams and even more so for the calf that saw its mother die.

‘It all began when the calf followed its twelve-year-old mother into the inlet, where the mom would teach it to hunt seals near the shoreline. Sadly, the mom, who was pregnant, beached herself on the rocky shore and… could not be saved.’

Thus, we have a young calf still learning from its mom how to be an adult, trapped in an isolated area without any family to provide solace and guidance to return to the open ocean. This was much for a calf to take in, especially when its mom was surrounded by strange creatures. I’m sure that, if we were in the calf’s place, we would be bewildered, distraught, and grieving. It never expected a situation like this to occur.

Fortunately, the calf, a female nicknamed kʷiisaḥiʔis (pronounced kwee-sahay-is or Brave Little Hunter in Ehattesaht), is doing fine for now, feeding on fish and seabirds and swimming in the deeper water of the inlet. The rescue team, aided by the B.C.-based whale research group Bay Cetology, is doing everything possible to persuade the calf to swim out of the inlet to rejoin her family. Efforts have included using boats to guide during high tide, playing recorded calls of family members, and setting up directional lines for it to follow out to sea. Thus far, these efforts have not yielded results.

A plan to lift the calf to open water was suspended when it was observed that the calf continued to eat offered seal meat and is actively seeking out and eating herring according to the April 22 Canadian Press article Rescue team optimistic orphan whale can survive and thrive once she’s freed. In the article, marine scientist Jared Towers states, “She’s proved very resilient here in the three-and-a-half weeks that we’ve known her to be stuck in the inlet. She’s pretty healthy considering she hasn’t eaten a lot during that time. She’s behaving like a killer whale. She’s calling. She’s broadcasting that she’s around and that’s really what it’s going to take for her to connect with other whales.”

Without question, many hope that Brave Little Hunter is reunited with her family and taken care of so that she can live a long and healthy life with many children and grandchildren.

‘She’s pretty healthy considering she hasn’t eaten a lot during that time. She’s behaving like a killer whale. She’s calling. She’s broadcasting that she’s around and that’s really what it’s going to take for her to connect with other whales.’

– Jared Towers, marine scientist 

We have witnessed many successful efforts to rescue pods of whales and dolphins that beached themselves across the planet, whales that have been trapped in nets and are slowly drowning due to the weight of “ghost nets” floating in our oceans, entrapping whales and dolphins, whale sharks and other fish, and threatened and endangered sea turtles. These rescues are exhilarating to watch, and the smiles on the faces of the rescuers say it all. In many cases, humpback whales freed from nets put on a tremendous show to thank their rescuers and celebrate their freedom and narrow escape from the Grim Reaper.

Ghost netting is a major problem, and efforts are ongoing to clean the oceans from these death traps. Innovations are also being developed to prevent whales, dolphins, and seals from getting caught in nets for various fisheries. This is especially important for the North Atlantic Right Whale, on the verge of extinction with only a few hundred individuals left. These whales live and travel along the Atlantic coast from the Arctic to the southern United States.

And no doubt many will recall the rescue of three orcas trapped by the ice in the Russian portion of the Arctic Ocean several years ago. The ice was closing in on the orcas, but relief came via an icebreaker, creating a channel for their escape.

Whales and dolphins are truly amazing creatures, and we share an ancient ancestor – a shrew that led to primates, bats, bears, and others. And, of course, we are all related going back to the first fish that took the leap of faith of leaving the sea for a life on land.

‘Ghost netting is a major problem, and efforts are ongoing to clean the oceans from these death traps. Innovations are also being developed to prevent whales, dolphins, and seals from getting caught in nets for various fisheries.’

We have hunted many whale species to near extinction – blue whales, humpbacks, right whales, fin whales, etc. – and, fortunately, that has stopped for the most part. Whale populations are recovering, with some having reached pre-whaling numbers. Sadly, Japan, Norway, and the Faroe Islands still engage in whaling. In Taiji, Japan, an annual hunt takes place to capture dolphins for meat and sell selected individuals to theme parks worldwide. It is vile, and many, including Japanese citizens, are working hard to end this annual massacre and kidnapping.

In Canada, we have the horror of Marineland in which, over the past few years, seventeen beluga whales and one orca have died at the theme park in Niagara Falls. Check out this March 26 CBC article entitled 2 more Belugas dead at Marineland.

We can and must do better for whales and dolphins and all life in our seas, oceans, lakes, rivers, and wetlands. By taking care of flora and fauna across the planet and protecting critical ecosystems, such as the Amazon River Basin, which is also home to a species of freshwater dolphin, all life on Earth can thrive. If we fail, it is game over. The choice is ours, and the clock is ticking.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of WestmountMag.ca or its publishers.

Feature image: Simon Hurry – Pexels

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Irwin Rapoport is a freelance journalist with Bachelor’s degrees in History and Political Science from Concordia University.