Crying, beached orca freed to cheers after dramatic nine-hour rescue in northern B.C.Janie Hermann,

Crying, beached orca freed to cheers after dramatic nine-hour rescue in northern B.C.

Janie Hermann, a member of the environmental research group Whale Point, was one of team of residents and environmental workers, who worked desperately for almost nine hours Wednesday to keep the female calf cool and wet before the tide was high enough for the mammal to escape.

“It was so heartbreaking,” she said. “She was calling out from land. A transient call is quite mellow and has a sad tone to it, so listening to her — oh my gosh — that just goes right through your body and your heart.”

At first, the cloudy and windy weather worked in the orca’s favour, but when the sun came out and beat down on the marine mammal, the rescuers knew they would have to work fast to keep her wet. A group of about five people approached the whale carefully so as not to startle her, and draped her in water-soaked sheets. 

“She kept lifting her tail as though she was testing out the height of the water. It was very intelligent on her behalf. Her level of patience was shocking, because you know she just wanted to go. Then that moment came… She took off like a bullet. She was going so fast and vocalizing, vocalizing toward her family,” she said.

PHOTOS: Whale Point/Facebook