Fate of orphan Puget Sound whale still undecided
Date: 20-May-02
Country: CANADA
The killer whale, or orca, is known to scientists as A-73. She appears to be sick, but a blood test this week did not explain what was ailing the animal, though it confirmed the problem was not genetic, the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service said last week.
U.S. officials are under pressure to decide on whether to allow an effort to reunite A-73 with her family pod when the family returns this summer to an area off the British Columbia coast about 350 km (225 miles) north of where the lost young whale is now living.
The two-year-old whale was either cast out or became separated from her pod after her mother died last year. The whale was discovered in January in Puget Sound not far from Seattle, but experts worry that she is not old enough to survive on her own.
A panel of whale experts monitoring the animal recommended two weeks ago that she be captured for relocation back to Canadian waters, but the U.S. marine service had resisted that idea until it could determine if the illness was genetic.
A genetic problem could have been treated with a special diet, but that would have required the politically unpopular step of removing the whale from the wild.
"In a sense it kind of widens our options again. Maybe it's possible that whatever she has is completely treatable and we could re-release her," said agency spokeswoman Janet Sears.
The agency has also been cautious on a reunification attempt, because it is not known if the A-73's pod would accept her back.
The Vancouver Aquarium, which would likely lead any reunification effort, has warned a decision must be made within the next few days if A-73 is going to be healthy by the time her family returns to Canadian waters.
"We have still not heard from NMFS," aquarium spokeswoman Angela Nielson said last week.
