She was so hungry.
A pod of whales were on the hunt for seals off the north coast of Hartley Bay in British Columbia when a young female made a rookie mistake that almost cost her her life. The whale ended up stuck on rocks. She was stranded.
The poor mammal cried out in panic. She was obviously very stressed.
The group Cetacea Lab received a call from their colleague about a beached orca who got stuck by a bunch of rocks during low tide.
George Fisher made the call and he said,
“Watching this guy land on the rocks there, slowly drying up as the tide falls… It was something else.”
The team headed out and pulled off an eight hour rescue mission.
Whale researcher Hermann Meuter was among the first at the scene. He put wet blankets on the orca and using a bucket and hose, poured sea water over the whale to protect her from the sun.
The whale’s breathing was unusually fast, meaning it was scared but after a while, it knew that the team was there to help her. She seemed to calm down according to Meuter.
The team did everything right.
Andrew Trites from UBC Marine Mammal Research Unit explained that while it seemed obvious to tie something to the mammal’s tail and pull it off, that could seriously hurt the creature as it was on rocks full of barnacles. It would have torn the whale apart.
So the rescue team did the right thing by keeping the whale calm and wet. The biggest threat is exposure to the sun which would dry out the orca. So the volunteers kept at it, pouring water over the young whale.
Until the tide rose.
Eight hours later, the water rose and finally, the whale was able to get off the rocks. Freedom!
Meuter said,
“It took her about 45 minutes to 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.”
That’s a long time. That’s a standard work shift but this was way more rewarding.
A pod was in the distance and the now free whale swam towards them. She’s finally back with her family. And it looks like they never abandoned her either. That’s a whale of a tale for the family!
Members of the World Wild Life Fund and the Gitga’t Guardians from Hartley Bay were also there with them helping to free the animal. Those guys and girls are heroes.
Watch this incredible rescue in the video below!
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