The first calf of an orphaned killer whale has been named through a public campaign by the Vancouver Aquarium. The calf was born to Springer, the first orca whale ever known to have been rescued, rehabilitated and released back to her original pod.
The story started in 2002 when Springer turned up in Puget Sound on North America’s Pacific coast. The orphaned juvenile orca appeared to be in poor health and attempting to make friends with boats and logs. Officials in Canada and the U.S. determined she was unlikely to survive on her own and captured her.
Nursed back to health
She was kept in a net pen for a month and nursed back to health, then reunited with her original pod in waters north of Vancouver Island. Biologists say female orcas normally stay with their pod for life and each pod shares unique vocalizations.
That may have helped Springer to slowly reintegrate into her pod. Vancouver Aquarium officials continued to monitor her progress and last July, saw that she was swimming with a new calf.
Spirit was the name the public chose for the calf, after Spirit Island on Canada’s central coast, close to where the calf was seen. The name also echoes that of the Spirit Bear, which is a rare white animal found in the forests of British Columbia and revered by local aboriginal people.
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