Entangled orca still in life-threatening danger, footage shows
Tuesday, 14 January 2020
An injured orca thought to have been freed from a crayfish line entanglement over the Christmas period is still in life-threatening danger.
Underwater camera footage of the rescue attempt, recently viewed by the Orca Research Trust, has identified the large male orca is still entangled.
Trust scientist, Dr Ingrid Visser said the footage clearly showed the crayfish line was wrapped tightly, and multiple times, around both pectoral fins.
'We now know the line was still wrapped around him when he broke free and can be seen to cut deeply into his flesh,' Visser said.
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'There is ample international scientific evidence that lines left on whales and dolphins, like I have seen on this animal, result in an extremely painful and slow death.'
Visser said, together with the Department of Conservation, the entanglement needed to be urgently addressed.
Not only for the welfare of the animal, but also because the New Zealand orca population is nationally critical and a number of orca had been lost in the past few years.
Visser is calling on the public to help locate the orca and asked for sightings to be reported urgently to 0800 SEE ORCA.
The injured male may be alone or with others.
'The necessity of real time reports is vital in this current attempt to locate and disentangle the orca, if he is to survive,' she said.
The orca was first reported entangled on Northland's Tutukaka Coast on December 23.
A crayfish line had wound around its right pectoral fin, which is like a human's shoulder, Visser explained.
The nylon line, called a pickup line, attaches the crayfish pot to a buoy and is as thick as an index finger.
Orca Research Trust, together with the Whale Rescue, Dive Tutukaka and the Coastguard, attempted several rescue attempts over the next four days.
It was believed their attempts were successful on December 27, near Waiheke Island in Auckland's Hauraki Gulf.