Officials in Iceland embarked on a tedious overnight rescue effort after an orca became stranded near Reykjavík’s Korpa golf course, which features views of the Atlantic Ocean.
As detailed by Iceland Review, the orca became stuck in shallow waters, and the rescue team had to wait until the tide rose to try to guide it out of its predicament.
Metropolitan Fire Department shift supervisor Guðmundur Guðjónsson told Icelandic outlet RUV that the creature seemed “fatigued and possibly injured,” according to the report.
Officials didn’t reveal further details about what caused the orca to end up stranded by Korpúlfsstaðir in the Grafarvogur neighborhood.
However, a changing climate is disrupting the natural balance of ecosystems relied upon not only by marine creatures but also by billions of people for income, medicine, and food.
A decrease in ocean pH levels (known as acidification), warming water temperatures, rising sea levels, and more intense extreme weather events are among the factors impacting the “distribution patterns” of many marine species, as explained by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and NOAA Fisheries, one of the agency’s divisions.
As for orcas, scientists have spotted them exploring new passageways opened by melting sea ice and in unusual locations — likely in search of food.
Fortunately, community-led restoration projects and conservation organizations are helping mitigate or reverse the damage to our ecosystems, while many companies are investing in eco-friendly initiatives that will ultimately benefit their bottom lines by limiting the potential for a more wide-scale economic collapse.
In Reykjavík, things initially looked bleak for the stranded orca. According to Iceland Review, when a Vísir reporter approached the scene, the whale was still alive, but rescue workers had covered it in a plastic sheet as part of their efforts to keep it wet overnight.
In the morning, the orca began to swim when the tide rose, but it didn’t exit the cove, which would become perilously shallow once again with the changing tide.
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This led to the Icelandic Food and Veterinary Authority becoming involved. Eventually, with the assistance of rescue workers, the orca left the cove.
“Great news — the stranded orca is now free and already making his way back out to the open sea!” Elding Whale Watching Reykjavik wrote on Facebook. “With careful coordination, he was successfully guided out of the cove and into deeper waters.”
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