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“SEEING HER come back is
clearly a big weight off our shoulders ... and everything now looks good,”
said Clint Wright of the Vancouver Aquarium.
The young female orca, also known as A73, won
international fame when she was discovered orphaned, sick and lost in a busy
shipping channel near Seattle, far from where her family pod normally lives
during the summer.
Scientists decided to capture the 1,200 pound (545
kg) orca, nurse her back to health and then transport her by boat nearly 460
miles (740 km) to Telegraph Cove in the hope she would rejoin the pod and remain
in the wild.
It marked the first time scientists had attempted
a reunion for a wild orca.
Although there were indications last year that
Springer was accepted back by the pod, scientists were concerned she might
become separated again during the winter when the whales were in the deep
waters of the Pacific Ocean.
“She clearly had the energy necessary and was able
to stay with them,” Wright told Reuters.
A whale watching boat spotted Springer among a
group of 30 whales Wednesday and photographed her so experts could confirm
her identity.
Scientists said Springer looked healthy and showed
no interest in playing with boats, a potentially dangerous habit she
developed near Seattle, apparently because she was lonely and wanted social
interaction.
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“The key thing now is to see if
she remains with the pod and as she comes further south into boat traffic
that she doesn’t start playing with boats again,” Wright said.
Orcas normally spend their entire lives with their
relatives. Each family pod has its own distinctive dialect of clicks and
squawks used for communication.
Officials are monitoring another orca living alone
near Vancouver Island. They have decided against transporting that whale to a
its pod off Washington state because it is healthy, but is also becoming too
friendly with boats.
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