Saving the Orca Wale from Death

this Orca cried and whined for her pod

to come get her when she found herself

beached on the sharp rocks her family

couldn't help her but what Rescuers did

is incredible the last place you would

expect to see an orca is on dry land but

that was what Eric Keen found when he

went to investigate strange sounds he

heard whilst sailing the seas around

British Columbia early one July Morning

in 2015. Eric is a whale researcher and

he was on his vessel the Bangarang

conducting a study on fin whales in the

area when he heard mournful Cries From a

small outcropping of jagged Stone on the

shore of Andrew rocks a young Orca was

in obvious distress wedged between sharp

rocks increasingly out of the water

according to save our seas Janie Ray and

Hermann muter about 7 30 am Eric called

the local Environmental Group whale

point to tell them what he had found

from Eric's description the Orca experts

realized what must have happened Orca

pods in that area would often

collaborate to hunt seals for food some

orcas chasing the seals towards the

shore While others patiently waited to

Spring the Trap this young female Orca

must have miscalculated her position and

as the tide went out found herself in

shallower and shallower water until

there was no way to extricate herself

from where she lay wedged between the

rocks she was bellowing for help

obviously scared and probably in pain

when Eric fortunately sailed nearby Eric

was well known to Janie and Hermann

often working closely with them on their

research they were traveling back from

Hartley Bay towards their base when he

alerted them to the young orcas plight

Janie and Hermann knew that time was of

the essence and that they would need all

the help they could get and so as they

raced North to join Eric in squally

Channel they also contacted gitka's

Guardians at Hartley Bay and Fisheries

and oceans Canada DFO both Marine

organizations to alert them to the young

orcas desperate situation meanwhile Eric

and his crew approached the Orca to see

whether they could help her get off the

Rocks they did not get too close to her

at first to avoid startling her and

causing her to hurt herself while

possibly trying to get away the reality

of the situation was that if they had

tried to lift her off the rocks or to

pull her they would have injured her

very badly because the Rocks were

covered in Barnacles which could have

cut her skin as it was she was bleeding

a little from her pectoral area and her

tail at the arrival of Janie and Hermann

Eric learned that John Ford and Paul

Cottrell of DFO had given guidance over

satellite phone to keep the polka cool

and wet until the tide Rose once more at

which time she would be able to free

herself the tide however would not rise

again for another eight hours and so the

marathon rescue began when they first

approached her the Orca was obviously

anxious about what their intentions

might be to be trapped and in discomfort

and surrounded by humans must have been

pretty scary for a young killer whale

her breathing was quick and shallow and

gravity was obviously making it harder

for her Eric ingeniously put together a

makeshift water pump from a hose and

some duct tape and went to the backside

of the island where he worked the pump

for Hermann who used the hose to soak

the Orca with cooling sea water all of

The Rescuers soaked sheets in seawater

and placed these gently along the length

of the orca's body as they worked The

Rescuers noticed that the orcas cries

were quieting down and her breathing was

becoming calmer it seemed the humans had

won the orcas Trust as they were the

ones comforting her while her own family

could only stay in the waters nearby and

called to her

The Rescuers took turns to pump the sea

water over the young Orca and to replace

the sheets covering her with freshly

seed dipped cooler sheets

they could see that the Orca calf's

dorsal was getting dry and so used a

pillowcase from Eric's boat to wet with

sea water and cover the fin all morning

the weather had fortunately been gray

and overcast however as the sun rose to

its Zenith at noon the cloud cover

dispersed and the Heat of the day began

in Earnest everyone worked tirelessly to

keep the Orca cool and wet

working in shifts the humans carefully

took care of the Orca as if she had a

fever replacing the drier warmer

coverings for cooler wetter ones all the

time dousing her with sea water from the

pump making sure she would not dry out

from the heat of the sun The Rescuers

could not help thinking how bad things

might have been for the young female

Orca had Eric not heard her cries until

this point The Rescuers had not placed

anything over the orca's head as they

did not want her to panic her sight

suddenly taken away she could have felt

even more vulnerable however the

fierceness of the sun made it absolutely

necessary to protect the orca's delicate

skin from the Heat and dryness Janie

describes how she watched one of the

team approach the Orca inching his way

slowly into the water in front of her

head and delicately placing a wet cool

sheet over her head taking great care

not to cover her blowhole

this orcas Youth and relatively small

size were in her favor she was only nine

years old the average life expectancy in

the wild is between 30 and 50 years and

around 7 000 pounds

3175 kilograms in weight true this is

the weight of your average hippopotamus

or rhinoceros or seven cows if you can

visualize that better but a fully grown

male can weigh up to sixteen thousand

pounds

7257 kilograms had this beached Orca

been older and bigger the pressure on

her lungs would have been greater and

she may well not have lived until the

next tide the water pump eventually

broke there was no fixing it no matter

how much duct tape Eric used this could

have been a devastating blow but just at

that moment the sea began to rise again

after a total of nine exhausting hours

the tide had risen sufficiently for The

Rescuers to begin the process of setting

the young Orca free They removed the

sheets from her body and head and the

pillowcase from her dorsal fin the team

knew that the time had come for the Orca

to do what only she could do and that's

swim out of her Rocky prison they did

not want their presence to startle her

into trying too soon and injuring

herself more seriously and so they

walked away and climbed up onto a nearby

Cliff to watch and wait

all of them felt the same sending her

all their wishes for strength and

willing her to have the ability to free

herself

the water level slowly began to creep up

the young orca's body until it covered

her as it happened she began to cry out

once more this vocalization seemed

different perhaps it was excitement that

soon she could be released and yet she

continued to lie there she would

occasionally lift her tail but she was

making no attempt to swim her Rescuers

were becoming worried they wondered if

something was wrong perhaps she was more

badly injured than they had thought

maybe she was too drained from her long

ordeal to make this one last gargantuan

push to escape they realized then that

they only needed to trust the Orca

calf's Natural Instincts by moving her

tail she had been testing the depth of

the water and when she knew that it was

safe and that she would not risk harm

she suddenly struck out in two huge

thrusts

free of the Rocks she sped through the

sea from where they stood watching from

their boats and on the Rocks all around

her human Rescuers screamed you go girl

and cheered in exhilaration and relief

they had done it

it had taken more than nine hours of

hard work and tender care but they had

managed to keep the young Orca alive and

well until she could return to her pod

once more

Eric had placed a hydrophone into the

water and was able to play the rescue as

the orcas song as she vocalized over and

over calling for a response from her

family for a while her voice was the

only one Eric and his fellow miracle

workers experienced a moment of concern

and doubt where was the young orcas pod

had they given up on her after such a

very long time on land had they sadly

swam away to mourn her loss as faint

replies to the rescued orcas cries

started to become audible from some

distance away a wave of relief washed

over the waiting listeners the young

female evidently heard her family's

replies too as she swam in the direction

of their transient calls speeding away

in joy and the thrill of release the

team of human Rescuers stood together in

their shared emotions they were feeling

so proud and overwhelmed by what they

had managed to do together every one of

them had given their all they side with

relief .