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warrior1

(12,325 posts)
Thu Jan 10, 2013, 12:12 PM Jan 2013

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

http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/10/16437371-11-killer-whales-free-after-being-locked-in-ice-mayor-says?lite

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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11 killer whales free after being 'locked' in ice, mayor says (Original Post) warrior1 Jan 2013 OP
Right ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Scuba Jan 2013 #1
I know! Right! warrior1 Jan 2013 #2
Great news! Brigid Jan 2013 #3
Thanks for posting that!! 2naSalit Jan 2013 #4
Great news! Puha Ekapi Jan 2013 #5
Thanks malaise Jan 2013 #6
I highly doubt they've made it to safety...just further away from the village. OnlinePoker Jan 2013 #7
I almost missed this Omaha Steve Jan 2013 #8

2naSalit

(86,569 posts)
4. Thanks for posting that!!
Thu Jan 10, 2013, 01:00 PM
Jan 2013

I was up half the night praying for them!! It made me cry so hard empathizing about them drowning, and it's been so cold that I was afraid that the subzero temps were very threatening. Whew!



OnlinePoker

(5,719 posts)
7. I highly doubt they've made it to safety...just further away from the village.
Thu Jan 10, 2013, 10:43 PM
Jan 2013

The vast majority of Hudson's Bay is fully iced up and will be completely iced within a couple of weeks. There is no escape north to Hudson Strait as that is fully iced up. From the village to open ocean at the mouth of Hudson Strait is well over 1200 km. Unfortunately, I think we will be getting reports of their carcass' washing ashore come spring.

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