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Crying, Beached Orca Freed To Cheers After Dramatic Nine-Hour Rescue In Northern B.C.
Barracuda
A juvenile Orca lye helpless stuck on the rocks in Northern B.C., crying out in pain. Janie Wray, a member of the the environmental research group Whale Point, along with help from others, all worked feverishly for nine hours trying to save the young Orca’s life. Janie says listening to the Orca cry out in pain and distress was a sadness that was felt throughout her whole body. Don’t reach for the hanky yet, a dramatic rescue with a make shift pump and plenty of help this one ends good I’m glad to say!
“It was so heartbreaking,” she said, speaking from Hartley Bay, a remote First Nations community about 145 kilometres south of Prince Rupert. “She was calling out from land. A transient call is quite mellow and has a sad tone to it, so listening to her — oh my gosh — that just goes right through your body and your heart.”
Listening to her — oh my gosh — that just goes right through your body and your heart.”
It began when whale researcher Eric Keen was out in his boat surveying the area, and he came across a young orca whale wedged between some rocks on land and crying out.
He immediately called the local environmental group Whale Point and the Gitga’at Guardians, a coastal stewardship network that supports First Nations to monitor and protect the land and water in Hartley Bay.
With a team of rescuers on the way, he got to work.
He knew he would have to keep the whale cool and wet.
So, like something out of the late 1980s television show MacGyver, Keen deftly fashioned a water pump using material he found on the boat. Hartley Bay is a remote First Nations community about 145 kilometres south of Prince Rupert so popping into the nearest big box store for supplies was not an option.
“What he rigged together was remarkable. He literally got a pump and a hose and we used Duct tape,” said Wray. “It worked … And we used that while others soaked sheets. It broke down later in the day so we just went to buckets.”
The rescuers climbed up the rocky shore and carefully approached the whale.
They didn’t want to scare her. She was moaning and in apparent pain, but they needed to act fast.
The tide had just gone out and it would be eight or nine hours until it was high enough for the whale to slip free.
They also knew that moving the whale was impossible because of the sharp rocks.
After waiting it out until the tide came in enough, the young Orca would once again be free. The above link has more photos of the rescue.
