Orcas, commonly known as killer whales, are the largest of all the dolphin species. They are smart and social creatures, and you can immediately recognize them with their black-and-white color.
One early Wednesday morning in 2015, The Cetacean Lab received a call from their colleague about the beached orca that was stuck on rocks at low tide.
It was a beautiful and sunny day, and a pod of whales were out on their usual hunt for seals. They were off the north coast of Hartley Bay, in British Columbia. However, one of the pod’s young female orcas made a very dangerous miscalculation.
The poor whale got stuck on the rocks while chasing some seals.
The orca was so stressed out, it was calling, crying, and trying its best to get out of the rocks, but she failed.
George Fisher decided to call his colleagues where he said:
“Watching this guy land on the rocks there, slowly drying up as the tide falls… It was something else.”
The team immediately headed out to rescue the poor orca but ended up doing an eight-hour rescue support mission. The reason why they weren’t able to immediately help the orca get back to the water was because of her situation.
Andrew Trites, a member of the UBC Marine Mammal Research Unit, explained why this is a very hard rescue mission. He said that even if it looked easy, they can’t just pull the mammal off the rocks because obviously, this would hurt the orca.
The rocks were full of barnacles, so pulling the whale off of these rocks would only make the situation worse.
The whale can die from the wounds that she would have suffered from this method. So, the only option was to wait until the next high tide, when the whale could swim back to the ocean.
In the meantime, the rescuers stayed and did their best to keep the orca alive.
Hermann Meuter, a whale researcher was one of the first people on the scene. He decided to gather blankets, buckets, and a hose to use. He put the blankets all over the whale and started pouring seawater on them. This is to make sure that the orca stayed wet and protected from the heat of the sun.
It was a very sunny day, so they had to make sure that the poor orca didn’t dry up.
At first, the whale’s breathing was very fast, it was obviously stressed out especially being surrounded by people. However, after some time, it seemed that she was able to sense that these people were there to help her and she started to calm down.
Her cries were so heartbreaking.
“It took her about 45 minutes to negotiate how to best get off the rocks. We all just kept our distance at that point. We all cared about this whale and we were just very lucky to give that whale another chance.”
The kind-hearted rescue team did all their best to make sure that the orca stayed wet and calm.
It wasn’t an easy job because the rocks were slippery, the sun was really bright, and pouring water on the whale for eight straight hours is a daunting task, but they didn’t stop until the tide rose again.
After eight long hours, the tide slowly rose, and the whale was able to get back into the water!
Also, a pod of orcas was seen in the distance. This touched the hearts of the viewers and the rescuers. It was the orca’s family, her pod was there, and they didn’t leave her. They stayed until she was free!
It looked like the whole time she was stuck; her pod was with her communicating and waiting. They didn’t abandon her, and they stayed close to her. What an amazing pod!
Did you see that? Did the orca just wave goodbye to her rescuers?
It seemed that the young orca knew how to give thanks to the people who stayed with her, those people who helped her by keeping her calm and wet.
At last, after a long day’s work, she was with her family again.
The rescuers may have suffered aching arms and legs, and also severe sunburn, but it was all worth it. Giving this orca another chance in life is worth every hour of tiresome work.
We just hope that the orca won’t make the same mistake again.
Watch the remarkable rescue of the young orca in the video below.
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