A family marking a memorial with a visit to Porangahau Beach found themselves in a five-hour marathon to help save a stranded orca calf, while its mother lay dead nearby.
John Pickett was with his extended family at Porangahau on Saturday as they gathered to mark seven years since the death of well-known Porangahau local John Potham.
A regular long-distance runner, Pickett took to the long smooth sands of Porangahau Beach at about 8am, little knowing his run was about to turn into a marathon effort.
“About 4km into my run, just before the river mouth, I came across two shapes in the waves. It was orca.
“I rang my partner, who shared the news with our family and they came down. I rang the DoC hotline and they said they would send a team.”
One of the members who jumped on the quad bike that morning was Trudi Nelson. A keen diver, she remembered meeting someone while on a dive charter who would know what to do.
“I was on a dive charter out of Whangārei some time ago when we diverted to look at a pod of orca. Another boat was monitoring the pod - it was marine biologist Dr Ingrid Visser and she invited me and my son aboard to see the whales more closely.
“Afterwards I thanked her and she said ‘if you ever see an orca ring me - 0800 SEE ORCA.’
“Her work with orca is world-renowned. She lives and breathes orca. I rang her.”
Dr Visser picked up the call from her bed, where she lay immobile having suffered a back injury just days earlier.
She asked for photos and began to talk the family through the first steps towards saving the orca calf.
“When the images arrived I was devastated. As soon as I saw the mother orca I knew who she was. I have observed that pod often and have known her for decades and I know the calf as well. The mother, heartbreakingly, had drowned due to lying in the waves and being unable to get her blowhole above the water to breathe. She could have been saved by being propped upright.
“But the calf could still be saved.”
Nelson relayed the instructions to the team.
“Ingrid said ‘you can be the difference between life and death for this calf, but can you stay there all day?’
“I told her we weren’t going anywhere.”
The team had to get the calf upright and keep her blowhole clear of the water. “We used two pieces of driftwood to divert the waves from her blowhole.”
They also had to keep her wet.
“We needed buckets. Looking up, there was a small black bucket sitting in the dunes above us. It was enough.”
Pickett took the quad to rally more troops and more buckets. More family members joined in and later members of the community and local police - Porangahau Senior Constable John Singer and Constable Olivia Tilyard all holding the fort until DoC, Fenz and local iwi arrived.
As they carried buckets the tide receded until the water they needed was hundreds of metres away.
Over four hours Pickett estimates the team of helpers walked about 10km.
Nelson was updating Dr Visser via phone calls, photos and video. Visser was replying with the next steps to take: what to do, what not to do. No water must enter the whale’s blowhole. The animal must be held upright - the team filled pillowcases with sand to prop her up. The water used had to be clear - especially around the eyes. The flippers must be protected but the tail avoided - one slap from the orca’s tail could break a human leg. The animal’s waste had to be channelled away - the team dug a trench with their hands.
The whole time, the calf was vocalising. Ingrid explained that orca are very sound-oriented. “Keep talking to her - she is recognising your voice and it is keeping her calm,” she told Nelson.
Dr Visser says it was frustrating being unable to get there herself ... she would have been straight into a helicopter if she could.
“But it was a great team effort. Trudi and her team, members of the public, the Orca Rescue Trust and whale-rescue.org all put in the hard yards until DoC go there to physically refloat the calf as the tide came in.”
Nelson says she felt incredibly privileged to be part of it. “We learned so much that day.”
As DoC came on-scene the team disbanded to get much-needed food and drink, and by the time they regrouped the calf was ready to go ... swimming straight out to sea.
Ngati Kere secured the site before burying the calf’s mother on Sunday at Te Paerahi. Hinetepunuareretai - named in reference to her calf who survived - was buried and karakia were performed over her to honour her final journey.
The Orca Research Trust is now calling for any sightings of the young calf as she searches for her pod.
“She will be grieving and lonely but she will survive for several weeks on her own. She will keep swimming because she needs to find a pod. Any pod will accept her as she is young,” Dr Visser says.
She says the orca would have been foraging for rays along the shore when the youngster made a mistake and became beached.
“Her mother came in for her. It’s heartbreaking.”
Anyone sighting orca can phone the Orca Research Trust on freephone 0800 SEE ORCA.