A pod of distressed orca whales cried out to a seven-year-old caught in a fishing net off the coast of British Columbia Thursday morning.
Bated breath all around
Tourists watched from a nearby whale-watching tour boat as the young whale struggled and, at one point, was underwater for 12 minutes. Typically, they can stay down for about five minutes before they need to surface to breathe, said Nicole Mackay, co-owner of Mackay Whale Watching.
‘Whales…sounding very frantic’
Other whales from the pod stayed nearby, sometimes bobbing their heads out of the water, sometimes calling out.
“We had the hydrophone underwater and they were sounding very frantic. Their calls weren’t their typical calls,” said Mackay.
The fisherman reeled in the net so the whale could breathe and finally was able to cut it and set the orca free. It then swam off with what appeared to be its mother, two siblings, an aunt and two cousins.
‘Moving…and terrifying’
“That family bond that those orcas have is so strong that they would not leave that whale,” said Mackay. “When it went down, they went down with it.
“It was really quite moving and terrifying at the same time.”
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