A baby killer whale is stuck in a lagoon (a shallow area of water separated from the open sea) in Zeballos, on northern Vancouver Island, British Columbia (BC). Rescue efforts by local First Nations, marine mammal researchers, and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) continue to be difficult. The two-year-old orca was found in the lagoon with his mother on March 23.
Despite her rescue efforts, her mother died a few days later when she ran aground on a sandbar that marks the exit of the lagoon. To return to the ocean and rejoin the herd, Quizaheyes must pass through the narrow, shallow sandbar on which its mother ran aground.
On March 28th, about 10 boats were dispatched and used a tool called an oikomi pipe to guide the fish to the exit of the lagoon, but this attempt was unsuccessful as Quizaheyes returned to the lagoon. Other rescue efforts have been conducted using recordings of killer whale sounds and indigenous drums, but none have been successful.
DFO said there were no signs that Quizaheyes was hunting, and that an autopsy of her mother suggested she was still drinking breast milk. Local indigenous people involved in the rescue say a baby orca can survive for two weeks without food.
Rescue efforts were suspended because the tide level was not high enough during the Easter weekend. If necessary, the team will consider a more dangerous rescue method, such as capturing Kuizaheisu and releasing it into the sea.