A killer whale became stranded on the rocks above the shoreline on Thursday in Alaska and a group of people helped to keep it cool and comfortable with water until wildlife officials arrived.
According to CNN, the orca was spotted on the rocks at Prince of Wales Island off the coast of British Columbia. Aroon Melane and Tara Neilson stepped in to help after hearing about the stranded animal. With the help of friends and neighbors, they used buckets to continually splash water on the whale until wildlife officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration arrived.
Melane posted a video to her TikTok account detailing how the orca seemed to like the water splashing on its body. And then Captain Chance Strickland and his crew arrived in the private yacht M/V Steadfast, and in addition to keeping the whale cool with water, they also were able to keep other animals like the birds from trying to attack the helpless orca.
“I don’t speak a lot of whale, but it didn’t seem real stoked. There were tears coming out of its eyes,” Captain Strickland told media.
Six hours later, when the tide rose, the 20-foot-long Bigg’s killer whale was able to swim out to sea. NOAA is checking photos and videos to determine if the whale suffered any serious injuries.
(Photos via screenshots TikTok Danielle Johnson. Captain Chance Strickland and crew of Steadfast)
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