Mama Kéetla/Springer!

On June 13, 2002, a contingent of Springer’s Peeps – supporters of Kéetla/Boo/Springer the Orphan Orca -- watched with trepidation as our wee orca gal was extracted from the waters between Vashon and Fauntleroy Cove, hoisted into a sling, and ferried by tug to a rehab pen in Manchester, WA. Her fate was uncertain. Was the elaborate operation a rescue or a kidnapping?
 
Springer (A73) captured our hearts during her six-month stay at the North End dock. Had she been captured only to be shunned by her wild relatives, wind up in a marine park, or die from the stress of it all? Would the plucky little orphan have the strength to rally in health and behavior for a demanding 400-mile journey home to her Northern Resident killer whale family? Kéetla’s resilience astonished us!
 
The Orphan Orca Fund (OOF) formally united some of Springer’s Peeps. Mark Sears, Odin and I were in OOF – a coalition of NGOs that collaborated with scientists and government agencies on Springer’s rescue, rehabilitation, and repatriation to her Northern Resident Orca Community. Many Islanders contributed to OOF. One major OOF purchase was wild salmon caught by Namgis First Nation fishers for Springer’s net pen in Dong Chong Bay, BC.
 
On July 14, 2002, Kéetla bolted out of that BC net pen, with a Namgis-caught salmon in her mouth, toward her A35 matriline relatives lined up at the bay’s entrance. Two-year-old Springer (A73) was in the net pen just one night, breaching and vocalizing excitedly when she heard the calls of her natal A4 Pod. Evidently, the killer whales expressed the equivalent of Maxinux Bédo -- "Welcome Home, Baby Orca," in the Kwakwala language of the First Nations who share Kéetla’s ancestral waters.
 
Springer experienced some rough patches in her first month home, occasionally seeking out logs and boats on which to rub. However, under the patient guidance of A Pod kin – such as an adolescent "auntie" who physically blocked her from approaching boats -- Springer soon resumed a typical Northern Resident killer whale life. Despite deaths of some close podmates in the last decade, Kéetla returned to the Northern Residents’ core area every summer with her A4 extended family. Many of Springer’s Peeps, including Odin and I, commemorated five and ten year anniversaries of her reunification with her pod. As proud nannies, we visited Johnstone Strait several times to observe Kéetla’s progress.
 
This year, Springer achieved another milestone. On July 4, 2013, Graeme Ellis, a biologist with Canada’s Department of Fisheries and Oceans, spotted Springer, now age 13, with her first calf near Bella Bella off the central BC coast. Mother and baby were traveling with the A35 matriline, the same members of Springer’s natal pod who initially welcomed her home upon her release into Blackfish Sound in July 2002. Kéetla’s baby is already several months old; the calf’s sex is unknown at this time. Ellis noted that the calf looks "healthy and active and energetic." This week’s photo shows the blessed duo.
 
Kéetla (our Tlingit name for Springer) defied the odds and her success is unprecedented. She is the only known wild killer whale to be captured, rehabilitated, and thoroughly reintegrated with her pod. The birth of her first calf is triumphant, and providing the calf survives, Springer’s genetic legacy will persist for generations to come.
 
Springer’s calf is fortunate to be born into the Northern Resident Community of about 260 orcas in 16 pods. In stark contrast to the joyful news of Kéetla’s baby is the devastating news that two more Southern Residents died. The Southern Resident population plummeted to 82 with the deaths of females Grace (L2), age 52, and Baba (L26), age 57. Though the Northern Residents are considered threatened under Canada’s Species at Risk Act, they seem to be thriving compared to our endangered Southern Resident orcas, who are dwindling at an alarming rate. If only Springer’s magic mojo could rub off on J, K, and L Pods – especially L Pod – but that’s grist for another "Dorsal Spin."
 
Please support the work of the Vashon Hydrophone Project (VHP): REPORT LOCAL WHALE SIGHTINGS ASAP TO 463-9041, as well as sick, injured, or dead marine mammals on Island beaches. Prompt reports to the VHP expedite the vital data collection efforts of Mark Sears and other researchers, and sustain an accurate record of whale sightings for Vashon-Maury and Central Puget Sound initiated three decades ago by Mark. Check for updates at Vashonorcas.org and send photos to Orca Annie at Vashonorcas@aol.com.