A whale research group that was involved in efforts to rescue an orphaned orca calf from a Vancouver Island lagoon says she has not been seen since May 10, despite multiple recent sightings of her family members.
A statement from Bay Cetology, a team of marine biologists based in Alert Bay, B.C., says the two-year-old female killer whale known as kwiisahi?is or Brave Little Hunter could be travelling with an unsighted pod, moving between groups or, it says it could be that “she is gone.”
The statement says there have been several documented sightings of the calf’s maternal family and related groups of Bigg’s killer whales since she swam free of the lagoon near the village of Zeballos on April 26.
However, there have been no sightings of kwiisahi?is for almost eight weeks.
After weeks of rescue attempts, the Ehattesaht First Nation says the orca calf known as Brave Little Hunter has finally freed herself from a remote Vancouver Island tidal lagoon and is now in open water.
Bay Cetology says it doesn’t think the calf would have died before the end of May because her body condition “was not critical” when she was last sighted, and she had been showing interest in prey since returning to open water.
The group says it’s likely that sometime in mid-May the calf joined a group or moved on from the area around Esperanza Inlet where she was last seen.
The calf was trapped in the lagoon for more than a month after the death of her pregnant mother, which became trapped on a rocky beach at low tide and died.
Following the calf’s escape in May, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) said it was monitoring and patrolling ocean waters off northwest Vancouver Island to ensure boat traffic doesn’t interfere with her ability to reunite with her extended family.
“Fisheries and Oceans Canada continues to work with First Nations, whale watchers and researchers to monitor the location of Bigg’s killer whales,” DFO said in a statement at the time.
“DFO will be patrolling and monitoring the area to ensure there are no boats trying to locate her, which will impact kwiisahi?is’s ability to join up with a passing pod. The team is also monitoring the location of the juvenile whale while she seeks out her family, the T109A pod.”