A statement from the Ehattesaht First Nation says the deceased killer whale near Zeballos was pregnant, and they are still working to help the stuck calf.
This comes after the First Nation community members were able to secure and move the mother Biggs Killer Whale for a necropsy. While they do not know if the whale was hunting and then got stuck or if an underlying health condition caused her death, they did find the whale had an unborn female fetus.
Efforts to remove the live calf from the lagoon are ongoing, including attempts to use whale calls at high tide to entice the calf out of the lagoon. However, the First Nation says this was unfortunately not successful.
Discussions between the First Nation and the DFO are ongoing to decide on a path forward. They add they also suspended their forestry operations yesterday and have provided helicopter support to see if the whale pod can be spotted.
The calf has been named kʷiisaḥiʔis, which means “brave little hunter,” and more meetings will be held so they can create a plan to help her.
