Stranded Orca off Coast Shed Tears as Rescued by Good Samaritans from threat of being Scavenged
Good Samaritans saved a 20-foot Orca that was stuck between rocks on an Alaskan shore by continuously dousing it with water and protecting it from birds who circled above the defenseless whale.
The whale was ultimately saved after a six-hour, labor-intensive life-saving operation.
Someone spotted the the large whale on the Prince of Wales Island near the coast of British Columbia Thursday morning. The Coast Guard was called around 9am local time.
Chance Strickland, the captain of a private yacht in Alaska, and his crew anchored and began life-saving maneuvers that were captured on video by Aroon Melane and posted on Instagram.
The 20-foot Orca, or Killer Whale, was stranded off the coast of Alaska.
The Orca was trapped among the rocks, where birds circled above waiting to eat the whale alive.
Strickland’s crew and other Good Samaritans saved the whale by making a bucket chain to pour saltwater on it, which livened it up.
They called the NOAA for guidance on how to save the stranded whale.
Strickland could hear the orca calling out to killer whales swimming in the area.
‘I don’t speak a lot of whale, but it didn’t seem real stoked,’ he told The New York Times.
People on other boats stopped with water and buckets to douse the orca. Mr. Strickland and his crew gave the whale a wide berth in case it started flopping around, he said.
‘There were tears coming out of its eyes,’ he told The Times. ‘It was pretty sad.’
The group of Good Samaritans formed a chain that passed buckets of seawater back and forth and poured the water on the Orca, which seemed to liven it up. It made a noise and raised its tail when it got water.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration was called in, which can be seen on the video using a machine to spray a mist of seawater on the Orca, which doubled as a way to keep the whale cool and scare the congregation of birds that were hoping to feast on the beast.
Melane said in her video that the Orca was stranded for about six hours until the tide came in swept it back into the ocean.
Melane said in her video that the Orca livened up the more water it received.
For several hours, they used buckets to hydrate the Orca.
They can be seen on the video using a machine to spray a mist of seawater on the Orca. After about six hours, the tide finally came and took the Orca back out to sea.
They group efforts of Strickland’s crew and the NOAA saved the 13-year-old killer whale.
Julie Fair, a spokeswoman for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told The New York Times, ‘It moved a bit slowly at first, and meandered around a little before swimming away.’
There was a 8.2-magnitude earthquake in southern Alaska the day before, but Fair said it didn’t cause the whale to be stranded.
