Orca in Open Water Read online

  An angry look crossed Mom’s face. “I know the orca you’re talking about, Davis. We all do.” She looked deeply upset as she spoke. “That whale was raised in captivity by Oceanarium after being kidnapped from his pod as a calf. He spent his entire life at your theme park, living in unnatural conditions in tanks and pools and being forced to perform. You only released him after intense public pressure. Of course he didn’t survive! He’d never lived in the wild. He was never given the chance!”

  The air in the room felt charged, as if filled with electricity. Davis and the government official glanced at each other uneasily. But the others were nodding, their lips pressed together.

  “Whoa,” Cooper muttered on one side of me. “Your mom really doesn’t like Oceanarium.”

  “I know,” I whispered back. “But can you blame her?”

  “I’d like to request the orphan be rehabbed at Oceanarium,” Davis said, ignoring Mom’s fury. “He can’t possibly be returned to his pod after contact with humans. It’s never been done! What you’re suggesting could kill him. Our facilities are state-of-the-art. We’ll take good care of him.”

  Mom shook her head, but before she could speak again, Arden jumped in. “SJS has one of the only wild pens in the country,” she said. “It’s big enough to house August for a short time. NOAA can oversee the rehab. He’ll be released as soon as he’s well and we find his pod. We’re still working out the details, but we want a chance to try.”

  “What about the danger to his life?” Davis challenged.

  Mom didn’t say anything. She looked at Arden.

  “You’re right that this is risky,” Arden said quietly. “And it’s true that an orca has never been successfully released into the wild after rehab by humans. August could die from stress or injury during the process. But if we do nothing, he’ll die slowly from disease and starvation. And at Oceanarium, he’ll be condemned to a life as a trained animal. That’s inhumane.”

  Davis opened his mouth to speak, clearly ready to defend Oceanarium. But before he could, the government official held up his hand.

  “Thank you, all,” he said. “I understand this is a difficult issue. We clearly all feel strongly about it. For the time being, the state will support NOAA in a rescue. The orca will be taken to SJS for rehab and release. Let’s make the necessary preparations.”

  Mom, Arden, Cooper, Olivia, and I all broke into huge smiles. Olivia squeezed my hand. Success!

  Not everyone was as happy, though. Davis swept his papers into a pile and left the room without saying goodbye to anyone. But in the doorway, he paused and gave Mom a long stare. I had an uneasy feeling that we hadn’t seen the last of him—or Oceanarium.

  Out in the strong Washington wind, Cooper, Olivia, and I crunched down the gravel path after Arden. Mom and the NOAA reps stayed behind to make calls.

  We scrambled down a long, winding path leading from the cliff on which SJS was perched to the small cove with the wild pen. The SJS boats were pulled up on the sand.

  Arden started untangling a length of rope. “We’ll take two of these small boats to the rescue, so let’s clear some of this stuff out.”

  “Arden, is Oceanarium really that bad?” I asked her as we clustered around one of the small boats. “That guy said their place is state-of-the-art. Would it be so awful if August had to go there?”

  “Oceanarium is a company whose goal is to make money,” Arden said. She looked as upset as Mom had sounded. “They capture young mammals, like bottlenose dolphins and orcas, plus other animals like seals, and train them to do tricks in shows. It’s not natural for the animals, and it’s cruel. But Oceanarium argues that these animals are safer in captivity. And they do have vets on staff and money to spend.”

  Arden paused and looked at us, like she wanted us to understand how important her words were. “But a tank is still a tank, no matter how nice it is.”

  Chapter 4

  “Elsa! Olivia!” Cooper’s voice cut through the darkness of the guesthouse. For a moment I burrowed further into my blankets. Then suddenly, I sat up and clawed the covers from my head.

  Today was the day. It was time to rescue August.

  For three days, we’d been going out in small boats and idling next to the little orca. We’d been trying to get him used to us and the boats by floating a small chunk of log attached to a cord over the side. The log was like a signal of our presence, Arden had said. August would squeak when he saw the log and come up to the boat. Then we’d reach over the sides to touch his fins, and, when he’d turn over, rub his belly.

  At first I’d been confused. I thought the whole point was that we didn’t want August to get used to boats or humans. But Mom had explained that we had to do it to prepare him for the actual rescue. If he was used to us and our boats, he’d be quieter and more willing during the rescue. Then he’d be less likely to hurt himself or one of us.

  Olivia rolled out of the top bunk, and in the darkness, we pulled on jeans and heavy sweatshirts against the pre-dawn chill. Then we hurried out to meet Cooper.

  “Is everything ready?” I asked him as we crunched down the steep path to the beach.

  “Yeah, your mom and my mom have been down there for an hour. The NOAA scientists too,” he said. “We’ve got to get this rescue done today. We can’t delay anymore. The longer we wait, the weaker August is getting. He won’t last much longer.”

  “Let’s move out!” Arden called as we came up to the boats. “Olivia and Elsa in with me. Cooper, you can go with Dr. Roth.” The two NOAA scientists, Jason and Greg, each climbed aboard one of the boats. Jason was wearing a wet suit and carrying a pair of flippers.

  “All right, listen up!” Greg instructed us as the boats motored slowly out of the cove. “Our colleagues will meet us on a crane boat out where we expect to find August. We’ll use a tail rope to gently position him between the two boats. We’ll need to hold him steady while the orca stretcher is maneuvered beneath him and attached to the crane. Then the crane will lift him onto the crane boat.”

  “Then what?” I asked.

  “Then he’ll ride on the crane boat back to SJS. The crane boat will be staffed with NOAA trained volunteers and biologists. They’ll monitor his vital signs the whole way.”

  We all nodded. I searched for Olivia’s hand in the darkness and gripped it. Her eyes were gleaming. I wasn’t sure if this was the greatest adventure of our lives, but it was sure close.

  Arden leaned forward. Her face was serious. “I want you girls to be ready. This rescue is extremely risky. August could hurt himself thrashing. We could accidentally hurt him as we move him. The stress alone could kill him.”

  Olivia nodded. “We’re ready,” she whispered.

  The boats picked up speed as we moved across the open ocean. The cold, wet air blew against my face as the boats cut through the water. The day was calm. In the eastern sky, a pink glow grew steadily brighter.

  After half an hour, Mom waved her arm at us from the other boat. “We’ve located August’s tag,” she called. “He’s in the same spot as before. He’s probably not strong enough to swim far at this point. I’ve radioed the crane boat to meet us.”

  I exhaled. We’d found him. One hurdle passed.

  Twenty minutes later, I saw the big red-and-white crane boat, its giant arm sticking up from the deck. It looked intimidating, but I reminded myself that it was the only chance August had at survival.

  Arden and Mom slowed the boats, then cut the engines to idle so that we were only rocking on the waves. We waved to the crew on the crane boat, and they waved back.

  Mom threw out the log on the rope. Two seconds later, I spotted August’s back and dorsal fin, swimming in a slow circle.

  “He’s tired,” Arden said. “See how slowly he’s going? And he’s not diving or breaching. He’s exhausted and starving. He doesn’t have energy to do anything more than stay at the
surface.”

  “We’re here, boy!” I called to August. “Please, let us help you.”

  “Throw the log,” Arden instructed.

  I picked up the wet section of log from where it sat on the floor and tossed it in. One end was tethered to the side of the boat. August immediately swam over to it.

  “OK, let’s get this started,” Greg called. “This is it, folks.”

  My heartbeat picked up. I clutched Olivia’s arm. She shot me a nervous look in return.

  Mom maneuvered her boat closer to August, and Jason carefully got to his feet. He threw out a soft, stretchy piece of white rope and landed a loop neatly around August’s tail. He pulled, and the knot tightened.

  Almost immediately August squealed and tried to swim away.

  “Oh!” I exclaimed.

  “It’s OK,” Olivia said. “It’s not hurting him. He just doesn’t like being held.”

  “I know …” She was right, but it was still hard. My eyes were glued to the scene in front of us.

  Very gently, Jason towed August so that he was up against the side of their boat. August was chirping and calling and thrashing.

  “Quick!” Jason called to Arden. “Steer over!”

  Arden moved our boat into position, so that August was between the long sides of both boats. Greg leaned over and unrolled the orca stretcher from the side of our boat. It was a long black sling of tough cloth with two metal poles on either side. There were holes, lined with padding, cut out for August’s fins.

  “OK, Jason, we’re ready for you!” Greg called.

  Jason zipped his wet suit up to his neck and put on his flippers. Then he eased over the edge of the boat and into the water. He swam around the side of the boat and secured the stretcher to the other boat.

  “This is going great, girls,” Greg reassured us, leaning over the boat. “I know August seems stressed, but he’s actually being quite calm. He’s not very strong, which helps.”

  Cooper, Olivia, and I didn’t want to call out, but we sent silent, I hope this works messages with our eyes. It was all we could do.

  The adults were all focused on their jobs. Every ounce of Mom and Arden’s energy was on keeping the boats in exactly the right position. Greg maneuvered August toward the stretcher, while in the water, Jason steadied and guided the orca. August squeaked wildly, but the adults were calm as the little whale slid forward onto the partially submerged sling of cloth.

  Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. August was in the stretcher. We’d passed another hurdle.

  Chapter 5

  The crane boat moved slowly toward us, and as we watched, the crew dropped two heavy cables over the side. Both were made of twisted metal and had big metal hooks on either end. The cables were attached to the massive crane itself.

  Jason climbed back in the boat. He and Greg quickly fastened the hooks to loops on either end of the stretcher.

  “Bring it up!” he shouted to the crane boat crew. They waved and slowly began winching the stretcher into the air.

  “Come on, August!” I muttered. “Please stay still.”

  The stretcher came out of the water like a dripping black bundle. August was suspended in the air. He couldn’t move much because of the pressure of the stretcher around his body. Slowly the crane lifted him into the air. Then, with a grinding of gears, it turned him toward the crane boat itself.

  “Think of how surprised he must be,” Olivia said. “He probably never thought he’d be hanging out mid-air.”

  Slowly the stretcher was lowered onto the deck of the crane boat. He’d only been in the air for about thirty seconds.

  “Come on!” Jason was motioning to Olivia and me. “You guys want to ride with August? I’m going to ride with him, and we could use the extra hands.”

  We looked at Arden. “Go ahead!” Arden said. “August knows you. You can comfort him on the ride back.”

  Arden held the small boat steady as Olivia and I scrambled carefully out of the boat after Jason and climbed up iron ladders on the side of the crane boat. I could see Cooper in the other boat doing the same thing.

  When we were all on board we turned and waved goodbye. Mom and Arden waved back, then disappeared over the waves as we turned all our attention to August.

  The little orca had been lowered onto a foam pad that was about three feet thick. Jason and the rest of the crew were working quickly to unfasten the stretcher. They took off the metal poles and let the whole contraption hang down.

  Quickly the crew swooped in to examine him. The vet took blood samples near his fin and listened to his side with a stethoscope. I saw him swab the inside of August’s blowhole and eyes and put the swabs in a vial. Then he felt August all over with his hands, squeezing and prodding him.

  “Is he going to be OK out of the water?” I asked anxiously. August looked so different lying there, out in the air.

  “He will as long as we keep him wet, cool, and calm,” Jason assured me. “That’s where you guys come in.”

  “OK.” Olivia nodded. “What do you need us to do?”

  Jason handed an armful of thin white cloths to Cooper and a big bucket of water to Olivia. “This is seawater,” he told them. “Cooper, you’re going to lay the cloths over August’s back and head and flippers. Not his face. They’ll keep him from getting sunburned on the boat ride back. Olivia, you pour water over him as much as you can. That will cool him and keep his skin from drying out.”

  “What about me?” I asked.

  Jason positioned me by August’s head. “Elsa, you’re in charge of keeping him calm. Get your head down there where he can see you and talk to him. Pat him, tell him he’s going to be OK. He’ll recognize your voice.”

  The big boat revved up its engine, and I felt us start moving forward in the water. Instinctively, I put my hand on August’s head as Cooper and Olivia got busy with the cloths.

  “Hey, buddy,” I said softly, crouching down. I pulled up a nearby crate and perched on it so my face was right next to August’s. “How are you doing?”

  The little orca whistled, his eye turning toward me.

  “I know you can hear me,” I told him. “You just have to trust us. We’re going to help you, not hurt you.”

  “How’s he doing?” Cooper asked, arranging the last of the cloths on August’s smooth back.

  I rubbed a hand over August’s skin. Touching him felt like rubbing a very firm balloon. Even out of the water, you could feel the power of his muscles beneath his skin. At that moment, Olivia poured water on the cloths from August’s head to his tail. He half-closed his eyes, and I could almost hear him sigh with relief.

  “He says that water feels good, and he’d like some more, please,” I called back.

  Olivia smiled. “Coming right up.” She bustled over to a barrel of seawater in a corner of the deck.

  We spent the next twenty minutes talking to August and keeping him calm and comfortable. I felt like I couldn’t look away. It was almost like I was keeping him calm and alive by watching him. Jason came by every five minutes or so with the vet and checked his vital signs.

  I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the buildings of SJS perched on their high cliff. We’d made it. August had made it.

  I felt like we kept moving forward up a long staircase. At the very top was August’s successful release back to his pod. But the steps to get there were so risky. On each one, we risked falling and tumbling head over heels to the bottom.

  * * *

  The next morning, I found Cooper and Olivia near the sea pen, hanging on their stomachs over the rock edge, gazing down into the water. I’d slept like a rock after August had been unloaded yesterday. It had been a lot like the rescue, except in reverse. Jason and the others had reattached the stretcher to the crane cables. Then the crane had lifted August straight up and lowered him down into the sea pen. After the
y’d unhooked the stretcher, the crane boat had driven away.

  August had swum around quietly, not diving or breaching. We’d watched him for a while, then Mom made me go back to the guesthouse and take a shower. She said I smelled like fish, which I didn’t think was so bad.

  The sea pen at SJS was a lot like the one back at Seaside Sanctuary. Nature had made a natural cove with rocks on three sides. A big net stretched across the fourth side, keeping the animal inside contained but giving it plenty of room to swim.

  Wild sea pens were much better for big mammals like orcas. Mom and Dad had explained that a billion times back at Seaside Sanctuary. The animals could eat the fish that naturally swam in, they could get a lot more exercise, and the water was the right temperature and saltiness. We could feed August lots of fish here, and he’d gain weight.

  “How is he doing?” I asked. I plopped down next to Olivia and wiggled over until I could peer over the edge too.

  “See for yourself,” Olivia said. She pointed.

  August was swimming slowly around the sea pen. He wasn’t diving or breaching, but he wasn’t holding still either, just like yesterday.

  “At least he’s alive,” I said, trying to sound hopeful.

  “Kids!” Arden came up behind us. “Good, I’m glad you’re here. I want you to see how to feed August, so you can help us later.”

  We scrambled up and followed Arden down the path to a wide rocky ledge about halfway down the cliff. There, a long white pipe led down into the sea pen below. A white curtain had been draped over the end of the pipe that led into the water.

  Arden picked up a bucket of live salmon and handed it to Cooper. “We got the vet’s report from yesterday.” She smiled at us all. “You’ll be glad to know that August is mainly suffering from undernourishment.”

  “Wait, why will we be glad to know that?” Cooper asked. “He’s starving! That sounds awful.”

  I had been thinking just the same thing.

  Arden squeezed her son’s shoulder. “Because that’s something we can cure. We’re going to feed August lots of good fish to build up his strength.”