Fishing crew discover distressed orca supporting her baby tangled in craypot line
Friday, 30 October 2020
A mother of a baby orca appeared to know a group of people were trying to save her calf as she helped to keep it afloat.
On Wednesday, a group of three recreational fishers were out on the water when they spotted a small group of orcas in distress.
The calf had become entangled in a craypot line and a buoy, about 30km north of Napier.
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One of the crew, who only wished to be known as Ben, was out on his friend’s boat when they spotted the group at about 5.45pm.
“There were about three or four holding the baby up and as we got closer, they all moved away, except for one, which we assumed was the mother.”
But the orcas still remained close to the exhausted calf, circling near the mother who wouldn’t leave its side.
“We could see it was tangled in a craypot line, just around its tail.”
Both mother and baby appeared quite calm as crew members pulled up the line and began cutting it away from its tail, while the mother gave the calf reassuring nudges.
Ben said it’s the first time he'd ever seen a whale and to rescue one was “pretty buzzy”.
The disentanglement took less than five minutes and about 20 minutes after the release there were reports of a small group of orca travelling along the coastline, heading towards Napier.
Once free, Ben said the orcas “disappeared” under the water, and they never saw them again.
“A mate of mine spotted what looked like the group further towards Napier later on, so it’s good they were seen again.”
Department of Conservation biodiversity ranger Mike Ogle said he was grateful to the fishing crew for freeing the orca.
“We’d like to thank the people who untangled the baby orca. Whales and dolphins can become injured, exhausted and drown in nets and lines.”
Orca were nationally critical in New Zealand, with their population in our waters thought to be declining, he said.
“It’s not every day someone saves an animal with the same threat ranking as kākāpō.”
Ogle said if anyone did spot a larger dolphin or whale that appeared to be in trouble, they shouldn’t approach them alone.
“Larger entangled whales can be dangerous (even fatal in some circumstances) and people should call 0800DOCHOT (0800362468) so we can mobilise our trained team with specialist equipment to undertake disentanglements safely.”