Newly-hatched ducklings have been known to follow afarmer around, thinking he’s Mom. Now an orphaned killerwhale, who was rescued from the busy Puget Sound, isrejecting her family for the company of boats.
When the two-year-old baby named Springer hears the sound ofa boat engine, she swims over and rubs against the hull.”When [the whales] are moving along slowly, cruising orfeeding, she is fine,” says Lance Barrett-Lennard of theVancouver Aquarium. “It is when she is alone she seeks thecompanionship of boats.”
Springer was captured off the coast of Seattle in May andreleased in Canada, after being put on a boat inside aspecially-built container and taking a 12 hour journey toTelegraph Cove in British Columbia. The capture and journeycost more than $200,000 and was one of the first attempts toreunite a wild Orca with its pod.
After being released, the 1,200 pound whale swam near itsfamily for two days, but separated from them again when shespotted a small boat nearby. ?She still has this tendency,if there’s an intriguing-sounding boat or something overthere, she might split off and go over and rub on its hull,?says John Ford, of Canada?s Department of Fisheries. ?It?ssomething she did a lot in Puget Sound because she didn?thave whales to associate with down there, so boats sort ofbecame a replacement for that for social reasons.?
Springer spent 6 months in the water off Seattle, oftenswimming beside passenger ferries. Scientists decided tomove her because she was becoming too friendly with areaboaters and they were afraid she would capsize a boat whenshe got bigger.
They don?t know if she strayed from her pod and became lostor if she was rejected by them, perhaps because her motherdied. Meanwhile, she?s still looking for Mom.
Somebody should get in touch with Springer psychically andtell her to stay away from dangerous boats. Learn how tocommunicate with your own pets from ?Is Your Pet Psychic??by RichardWebster,clickhere.
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