Canadian Whale Family Reunion Seen as a Success
Tue Aug 20, 7:44 PM ET
By Allan Dowd
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) - A groundbreaking bid to reunite a young killer whale with her family pod in Canada, after she was orphaned near Seattle, appears to have been a success, an official said on Tuesday.
The orca, known officially as A-73 but nicknamed Springer, has gained the stamina needed to remained with her relatives, which allowed her to break a potentially dangerous habit of befriending boats when other whales were not around.
The effort marked the first time scientists have attempted to reunite a lost killer whale in the wild with its family and has taught biologists important lessons, said John Nightingale, director of the Vancouver Aquarium.
Officials may soon have to decide if they will use that knowledge to help a second whale, who has been swimming alone in an inlet on western Vancouver Island after becoming separated from his U.S.-based family pod.
Springer, a 2-year-old, 1,200 pound whale was sick when she was found in January in a busy shipping channel near Seattle, apparently after her mother died. Officials eventually agreed to capture her so she could be nursed back to health.
In July, a team of Canadian and U.S. scientists transported the whale by boat to Johnstone Strait off northern Vancouver Island on British Columbia's Pacific coast, where members of her family pod normally spend the summer months feeding on salmon.
Biologists were initially worried about the success of the reunion because A-73, equivalent in age to a human toddler, appeared physically unable to keep pace with the other whales. When left alone she would attempt to make social contact with boats just as she had near Seattle.
Experts who monitor whales in the Johnstone Strait area say A-73 has since been spotted repeatedly swimming and feeding with members of her pod, just as she naturally would in the wild. Pods normally remain together for life.
Nightingale said the effort has taught biologists lessons on how to reunite whales and what happens to orcas that become separated from their family units -- including that they develop an "extreme fascination" with boats.
The whale swimming off western Vancouver Island, L-98, has also begun to demonstrate that interest in humans, forcing Canadian fisheries officials to step up efforts to keep boats out of the inlet where it has lived alone since last fall.
Officials had hoped that L-98 would hear the sounds of its family pod and rejoin them as they swam through the area toward their summer feeding grounds off Washington state's Puget Sound, but that has so far not happened.
The bid to reunite Springer with her family garnered international media attention, and Nightingale said that political pressure may build on fisheries officials to mount a similar reunification effort for L-98.
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