A young orca is refusing to return to the open ocean after its pregnant mother became stranded and died in a lagoon off Vancouver Island in Canada, rescuers say.
The mother and calf entered the lagoon, which extends south of the village of Zeballos on the island's northwest coast, on Saturday (March 23). The orca mom may have flipped onto her side while chasing a harbor seal (Phoca vitulina) and beached as the tide receded, Jared Towers, a marine scientist with Fisheries and Oceans Canada and director of the non-profit Bay Cetology, told CBC News.
