Young Orca Rescued from New Zealand Beach

Thursday, September 25, 2003
Rescue workers toiled for four hours to save a 4.7m juvenile orca, or killer whale, stranded between Te Arai Pt and Mangawhai Beach, about 70km southeast from Whangarei.

An Air New Zealand pilot flying to Whangarei first spotted the stranded orca about 8am yesterday.

Orca researcher Dr Ingrid Visser said that by 10.30am a large group of helpers had arrived on the beach, including police, surf rescue and members of the public.

The orca was about six years old and had likely become stranded while chasing stingrays in shallow waters, she said.

"It was very calm and collected. It was very aware that we were helping it."

Rescuers dug a trench to move the whale into deeper water and waited for the tide to come in.

Rescue pontoons had been attached to the whale and an inflatable surf rescue boat was used to tow the whale a kilometre offshore where it was released about 2.30pm.

"It swam off strongly heading north towards the Hen and Chicken Islands," she said.

"We followed it for about one and a half hours. We saw two other orcas coming towards it -- an adult male and an adult female."

The orca stranding was the second in Northland this year, Dr Visser said.

"It was great to rescue it. There are less than 200 orca around the New Zealand coastline. So it's very important that we save them."