A reported sighting of an orca pod off Vancouver Island near where an orphan killer whale is spending her time after escaping from a lagoon has an expert expressing caution and downplaying a possible family reunion. A two-year-old female orca calf, named kwiisahi?is, or Brave Little Hunter, by the Ehattesaht First Nation, is spotted at the Little Espinosa Inlet near Zeballos, B.C., Friday, April 19, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS
A group of killer whales has been sighted far from the remote inlet off Vancouver Island, where a young orphaned orca has been residing since escaping a lagoon last month. However, a member of the rescue team involved in the calf's care has tempered expectations of an immediate family reunion.
by the Ehattesaht First Nation, is spotted at the Little Espinosa Inlet near Zeballos, B.C., Friday, April 19, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS
The sighting of nine orcas occurred on Monday in the waters near Kyuquot Sound, about 80 kilometers southeast of the inlet where the two-year-old female calf has been observed.
This marks the closest confirmed report of orcas since the calf's mother tragically became stranded in the lagoon approximately 450 kilometers northwest of Victoria on March 23. The following week, a pod of their relatives was spotted south of Ucluelet on the west coast of Vancouver Island.
Marine scientist Jared Towers indicated on Tuesday that the pod near Kyuquot Sound has not yet been identified as the orphaned calf's family, and they are too far away to hear her calls.
"They're just way too far away," he stated in an interview from Alert Bay, northern Vancouver Island. "They're offshore. They are off the continental shelf edge. It's not even the same habitat. That sighting was right on the shelf edge, and that's very different from the inside of an inlet."
The young killer whale, known as kwiisahi?is or Brave Little Hunter by the local Ehattesaht First Nation, gained international attention last month during the efforts to free her from the lagoon where her mother passed away.
Despite attempts by rescuers, the calf evaded capture and eventually made her way out of the lagoon independently on April 26, swimming through a narrow channel and into Little Espinosa Inlet.
Towers mentioned previous instances where young orcas lost contact with their family pods off the coast of British Columbia, survived independently for extended periods, before eventually reuniting with their families.
"I'm just trusting that we've done everything we can at this point and the rest is really up to her," he remarked. "She's in a great spot, and it's just a matter of waiting to see what happens at this point. We just need to be patient."
