B.C. gives more time on orca

As federal authorities waited yesterday for blood-test results on the orphaned baby orca in Puget Sound, a B.C. aquarium softened its deadline for withdrawing from an effort to reunite the whale with her family in Canada.

The Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre had told the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service that if a decision were not made to capture the orca by yesterday, the aquarium would no longer be poised to raise money to help the effort.

"If we're going to have her reunited with her family in mid-July, we need to get cracking," said aquarium spokesman Angela Nielsen. "There's a lot of work that needs to be done."

Aquarium President John Nightingale warned that unless the whale is captured and her medical problems remedied, "It's going to die, day by day, on the evening news."

But the fisheries service said it is waiting for blood-test results to reveal whether the orca, known as A-73 as well as its official nickname, Springer, has an incurable genetic disorder. The results could take until early next week.

"Once the whale is captured, if it is subsequently discovered that the whale has a chronic, untreatable health problem that would preclude her from being reunited, then we would be faced with ... a choice between two equally repugnant alternatives: Put her in an aquarium for permanent treatment, or at least permanent capture; or somehow return her to Puget Sound, where she's been all along," said Brian Gorman, the fisheries service spokesman in Seattle.

The whale appeared in Puget Sound in mid-January. Scientists identified her as coming from an orca family, or pod, that returns early each summer to Johnstone Strait, by Vancouver Island. The pod migrates away in September or early October.

The whale, which is 1 1/2 to 2 years old, is suffering from something that causes its breath to carry an odor like chemicals known as ketones. Usually that's a sign of starvation, but the whale is eating.

Scientists now suspect is it indicative of an inherited metabolic disorder, meaning something is wrong with her digestive system.

A blood test taken last week showed she does not have diabetes or a certain kind of virus. Results on a test for the metabolic disorder should be ready today, the aquarium's Nielsen said.

The aquarium, responding to a request by the fisheries service, first proposed on March 1 to capture the orca and reunite her with her family. Two weeks ago, a scientific panel assembled by the fisheries service advised the agency to capture the whale. But the agency wants to know more about her condition.

Nightingale, the aquarium president, wrote to the fisheries service last Thursday, saying "our plan cannot be implemented unless the plan is approved by Wednesday, May 15."

If not, he wrote, "we are willing to reopen the possibility of our involvement but will not undertake a major fund-raising drive."

The whale must be reunited with its pod by about mid-July so scientists can watch her until the weather turns bad in mid-September, the aquarium says. In the past, baby orcas in similar situations have been rejected by their pods.

Aquarium veterinarian David Huff said if the orca turns out to have an incurable disease, she should be captured and studied anyway to learn about the inherited malady. Seven of the last eight calves born to her immediate family have died.

Nightingale and Nielsen said that yesterday's deadline could be pushed back a few days.

"It's being portrayed in the press as us holding a gun to NMFS' head, but that's not true," Nightingale said.

Said Nielsen: "I think we would give them a day or two's grace. But if we're talking about a week or two, the deadline has passed."

But some local orca advocates say withdrawal of the aquarium from the fund-raising effort may not be a huge deal.

The Seattle-based Orca Conservancy, working with the Earth Island Institute of San Francisco, remains confident the public will donate to a reunification effort, said Orca Conservancy President Michael Harris.

P-I reporter Robert McClure can be reached at 206-448-8092 or robertmcclure@seattlepi.com

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