A Nanaimo, B.C., woman says she is serenading a killer whale calf with her violin, hoping to entice the orca to leave the remote lagoon where she has been trapped alone for almost four weeks.
Carol Love says she is watching the tides at the Vancouver Island lagoon and will be playing the violin at every high tide to entice the orca calf to pass through a narrow channel, under a bridge and into the open ocean.
Love, a Canadian military veteran, says her first visit to the bridge Wednesday night didn’t work, but she did see the orca calf rise to the surface in the distance.
Love’s tidal-timed violin concerts come as a rescue team continues preparations for another attempt to catch the killer whale calf in a net and transport it to the nearby ocean.
The Ehattesaht First Nation named the young orca kwiisahi?is, or Brave Little Hunter, after she ventured into the lagoon off northwest Vancouver Island with her mother last month.
The pregnant mother whale became stranded on a rocky beach at low tide and died, and rescuers have been trying to get the calf to leave the lagoon, 450 kilometres northwest of Victoria, so it can reunite with its pod.
Love, who says she couldn’t help but be inspired to help the orca calf, played her violin Wednesday along to a recording of her favourite song, “Tennessee Whiskey” by country singer Chris Stapleton.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 18, 2024.
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- APRIL 16: U.S. killer-whale catcher has advice for B.C. rescuers — build rapport with your orca
- APRIL 15: Orphaned B.C. orca may be eating fish, vet says, as rescuers plan new strategy
- APRIL 13: B.C. rescue team regroups after little orca thwarts capture in remote lagoon
- APRIL 12: ‘Very smart’ B.C. orca calf evades rescuers, forcing switch in tactics
- APRIL 11: Tiny B.C. town rallies around killer whale calf rescue effort as time ticks away
- APRIL 10: Plan to lift B.C. orca calf out of remote lagoon still in the works
- APRIL 9: Trapped B.C. orca calf’s skin whitening, no sign of emaciation: Fisheries Department
- APRIL 5: Drone images show trapped B.C. orca calf is healthy female, Fisheries Department says
- APRIL 4: Plans to lift a B.C. orca calf out of remote lagoon aim for two-week timeline
- APRIL 3: Rescuers plan helicopter airlift of orca calf stranded in B.C. lagoon
- APRIL 2: Stranded orca calf remains in B.C. lagoon, breaching at regular intervals
- APRIL 1: Rescuers hope AI will help reunite orphaned whale with its family in B.C.
- MARCH 30: Low tide pauses efforts to save B.C. orca while rescuers plan next steps
- MARCH 29: Fisheries officials monitoring orphaned orca calf in lagoon off Vancouver Island
- MARCH 28: Killer whale rescue team puts boats back in lagoon in effort to entice calf to ocean
- MARCH 27: B.C. orca calf rescue team considers changing tactics to save stranded whale: DFO
- MARCH 26: DFO response team still trying to save orca calf near Zeballos
- MARCH 25: Baby calf still stranded near Zeballos; mother was pregnant when she died
- MARCH 24: Whale researchers and First Nations have hope for orca calf near Zeballos
- MARCH 23: ‘Really sad’: Hundreds tried to help orca that died on beach on Vancouver Island