ZEBALLOS — A Nanaimo woman is playing her violin for a trapped killer whale calf in the hope of persuading the orca to leave the isolated lagoon where she has been stuck alone for nearly four weeks.
Carol Love is monitoring the tides at the Vancouver Island lagoon and plans to play the violin during each high tide to encourage the orca calf to pass through a narrow channel, under a bridge, and into the open ocean.
Love, a Canadian military veteran, states that her initial visit to the bridge on Wednesday night was unsuccessful, but she did observe the orca calf surfacing in the distance.
Love's violin performances, timed to coincide with the tides, are happening alongside a rescue team's ongoing preparations for another attempt to capture the killer whale calf in a net and transfer it to the nearby ocean.
The Ehattesaht First Nation named the young orca kwiisahi? is, or Brave Little Hunter, after she entered the lagoon off northwest Vancouver Island with her mother last month.
The pregnant mother whale became stranded on a rocky beach during low tide and subsequently passed away. Rescuers have been working to encourage the calf to depart the lagoon, located 450 kilometres northwest of Victoria, so it can rejoin its pod.
Love, who feels compelled to assist the orca calf, performed on her violin accompanied by a recording of her favorite song, “Tennessee Whiskey” by country singer Chris Stapleton.
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