11 killer whales free after being 'locked' in ice, mayor says

[warrior1]

Source: NBC

Updated at 10:55 a.m. ET: Eleven killer whales that were “locked in” by ice in a Canadian bay, with only a small area of open water for them to surface, are now apparently free, possibly due to a change in current that helped break open a path to the sea, the mayor of a nearby village said Thursday.

Two scouts sent to check on the killer whales around 8 a.m. local time found a passage of water had been created in Hudson Bay all of the way to the open sea – nearly 25 miles away -- and the ice hole that the animals had been trapped in was empty, said Petah Inukpuk, mayor of Inukjuak, an Inuit village home to 1,800, in Quebec.

“They are free. They are no longer here. When there is a new moon, the water current is activated it could have helped … completely trap them but in this case it caused an open passage out to the open water,” he told NBC News, adding that they probably freed themselves overnight. “It was mother nature that helped them.”

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Read more: MSNBC

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AWESOME!!!!

[polly7]

1. That's a relief! nt.

[onestepforward]

2. This is great news!

There didn't seem to be much hope last night as far as human intervention.

[hamsterjill]

3. Mother Nature can be a formidable force.

Mankind sometimes seems to forget that. In this case, I'm glad the Big Mother was looking out for the whales!!!

[snooper2]

4. they have been around for over 10 million years..

I'm sure they can handle the waters

[Cynicus Emeritus]

5. That's good to hear

but I can't believe according to report on the NBC TV this AM that the Canadian Navy initially refused a request by the local mayor to send an icebreaker.

Responders that don't understand that they can get many times the cost in expenses by good PR, by rescuing distressed animals need a new leader.


Added on edit: Progressive, populist and libertarian for the rights of the people. Corporations are not people

[thelordofhell]

6. Then they immediately ate 50 baby seals..........

They're called Killer Whales for a reason...........

[BlancheSplanchnik]

7. yes that's the way it goes, but the predator-prey relationship

evolved over millions (billions?) of years. And it's not something they can be reasoned with about.

People, aside from some few tribal communities, no longer need seal fur coats to survive--and if we want the warmth and luxury of fur, we are capable of making artificial fur.

We can choose not to engage in horrific cruelty.

[The Second Stone]

8. They will just kill again

Their time in the frozen water just hardened their watery skills into ice. Who among us has not been trapped near an insurmountable ice hole that drove us to revenge fantasies of killing?

[thelordofhell]

9. I've encountered a few Ice Holes here in DU

I just report 'em and ignore 'em.............

[The Second Stone]

10. so you just give them the cold shoulder

and consign them to their fate.