Orphaned orca released to join home pod

HANSON ISLAND, British Columbia -- An orphan orca that wandered into busy Puget Sound last winter bolted off to join her home pod Sunday afternoon after she was released off this remote Canadian island.

The female, 2-year-old killer whale called loudly to the 20 to 30 members in the pod and tried to look over a safety net as they swam by Sunday morning, her caretakers said.

"Based on what we saw last night, we were quite sure that when we opened the gate, she'd go charging off, and she did," Vancouver Aquarium president John Nightingale said.

Scientists have attached transmitters to the orca to follow her movements.

The orca was kept in a temporary pen after she arrived late Saturday on a 400-mile, 13-hour trip aboard a donated high-speed ferry. She was captured in June after spending the winter by herself in Puget Sound, where whale experts feared the boat traffic could harm her.

The whales that passed by in the pre-dawn darkness Sunday included members of her three-member birth pod and others from their language group, said Lance Barrett-Lennard of the Vancouver Aquarium.

"Her calls were so loud they practically blew our earphones off," he said.

The passing whales did not appear to notice her cries amid their own -- which was just as well, Barrett-Lennard said. Having dozens of killer whales surrounding the pen in the dark would have been "a bit daunting" for the caretakers, he said.

The orca dined overnight on salmon caught locally by fishermen granted a special permit to catch them for her. Her caretakers stayed nearby on another donated boat working in Dong Chong Bay off the northeast coast of Vancouver Island.

Killer whales, a kind of dolphin, are found in all the world's oceans. Resident pods in the inland waters of the United States and Canada are struggling with dwindling salmon runs, increasing human contact and pollution.

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On the Internet:

www.vanaqua.org

www.pac.dfo-mpo.gc.ca

www.nwr.noaa.gov