Plans to lift a B.C. orca calf out of remote lagoon aim for two-week timeline

ZEBALLOS, B.C. — A rescue effort that involves lifting a killer whale calf out of a remote tidal lagoon off northern Vancouver Island could happen within the next two weeks. 

Federal Fisheries Department officials, the area’s Ehattesaht First Nation and marine mammal rescue experts say they’re convinced the only way to save the two-year-old orca calf is to risk hoisting it from the tidal lagoon near Zeballos, B.C. 

Paul Cottrell, a marine mammal co-ordinator with the department, says rescue crews will attempt to place the young whale in a sling and lift it to the open ocean.

He says the plan then involves placing the orca calf in a large net pen in the ocean where its health can be examined and the chances of it meeting its family pod are greatest.