Springer (born ), officially named A73, is a wild orca from the Northern Resident Community of orcas, which frequents the waters off the northern part of Vancouver Island every summer. In January 2002, Springer, then a calf developmentally equivalent to a human toddler, was discovered alone and emaciated some 250 miles from the territory of her family (called a "pod"). Experts identified Springer by her vocal calls that are specific to her pod, and by examining photographs of her eye patch. They were also able to determine where Springer's pod was currently located.
After months of heated public debate, a decision was made by the United States National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to capture the young orca and attempt to reintegrate her into her pod. On June 12, 2002, Springer was captured and moved to a seapen in Manchester, Washington. On July 13, after medical treatment and rehabilitation, Springer was transported to Johnstone Strait, British Columbia, and held in a seapen at Dong Chong Bay, Hanson Island. The next morning, Springer was released near her close relatives. In October, she was seen traveling with her pod to the open ocean. The following July, she returned to Johnstone Strait with the same pod.
Springer has been observed with her pod in Johnstone Strait every year since her rescue and translocation, becoming the only orca in history to be successfully reintegrated into a wild population after human intervention. In July 2013, 11 years after her rescue, Springer was seen off the central British Columbia coast with a new calf and is considered to be a contributing member of that population. In 2017, Springer was seen with another calf, who was confirmed to be her second offspring.
Appearance in Puget Sound
Although there were possible sightings in early January 2002 of either a juvenile orca or false killer whale in northern Puget Sound near the town of La Conner, Washington, Springer was first confirmed by researchers and reported to news media on January 14 when she was spotted swimming alone near the Vashon Island ferry dock south of Seattle. At that time, she was long and estimated to be between 18 and 36 months old. Springer's presence was immediately regarded as a mystery, as orcas are rarely observed alone, and mothers never leave young offspring unattended.
As advocates and researchers worked to identify this strange visitor to Seattle, grave concern arose over her presence in the waters off a major metropolitan area. In one of the first media reports on January 19, the public was urged to resist the temptation to interact with this highly sociable orca, not to try to capture up-close photographs or video of her, or worse yet, do what was reportedly already happening, try to feed her. "The message we want to get out to boaters is, no matter how much you want to help this whale, do not approach it, don't feed it," Orca Conservancy representatives warned on KING-TV (NBC Seattle). "A fed whale is a dead whale.""Podless in Seattle," KING 5 News (NBC Seattle), January 19, 2002
Despite the warnings, Springer became an instant celebrity, appearing regularly on the news in the United States and Canada. The beach community of West Seattle took on the look of a marine park. The orca's interactions with humans increased. The situation became untenable.
Identification
Killer whale experts tried to solve the mystery of this solitary, social orca, initially known to locals and ferry workers as "Baby Orphan Orca" ("Boo") or "Little Orcan Annie." They pored over high-resolution photographs taken of the young orca's markings. They also hoped to find clues in the orca's calls, which are distinctive to her pod.
The orcas of Washington state and British Columbia coasts have been extensively studied since the pioneering work of Michael Bigg in the early 1970s. Each of approximately 500 orcas which frequent these waters is named, and experienced observers recognize individuals by their unique body markings and the shape of each orca's dorsal fin. Birth records of each orca have created detailed family trees. They are considered the best-known marine mammal population in the world.
Orcas in the region's inner coastal waters take two forms, "resident" and "transient" (also known as Bigg's killer whales), two eco-types that are similar in appearance but have different diets and social structures and do not interbreed. The different orca pods have developed their own unique vocalizations, using distinctive sets of calls, known as "dialects." Closely related groups have more similar dialects than more distant relatives.
In February 2002, recordings and photographs of Springer in Puget Sound were sent to Paul Spong and Helena Symonds of OrcaLab and Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) Canada biologist John Ford, who determined that the killer whale belonged to a group of around 215 killer whales known as the Northern Resident Community, ranging some 250 miles north, a group rarely seen in the Puget Sound area. Resident killer whales leave the coast each fall; their migration routes are still relatively unknown.
It was known that A45, a female killer whale from this community, and her calf A73 had not returned to Johnstone Strait the previous summer and were both feared to be dead. Through assessment of the orca's dialect, she was confirmed to be A73, offspring of A45, also known as "Sutlej." Orca fathers do not play a role in rearing their young, so Springer is considered an orphan. Her closest maternal relatives are other members of the matriline (subpod) known as A24, which is in the pod known as A4. A73 had been given the nickname "Springer" shortly after her birth. Like many of the region's killer whales, she is named after a geographical feature – Springer Point in southern Johnstone Strait.
Health and welfare concerns Springer had developed a pattern of approaching and rubbing against boats, creating a high risk of being hit by a vessel in the busy area or capsizing a small boat. Robert McLaughlin, Robert Wood, and Michael Kundu of the Seattle-based group, Project SeaWolf, began regularly observing and tracking the calf on the water, documenting a number of orca-boat interactions, including potentially dangerous interactions with private boats and a Washington State ferry. The group captured surface and underwater video of the orca that they disseminated to the media, urging federal intervention. Springer's attraction to boats and floating logs was attributed to needing social interaction and touch. John Ford observed later that, "She didn't have whales to associate with down there, so boats sort of became a replacement for that for social reasons."
Although Springer had been weaned from her mother and was able to forage on her own, she was underweight and in poor health, being malnourished, having ketoacidosis, worms, and an itchy skin condition. Orcas are highly social and form extremely strong family bonds. Resident orcas remain with their mothers and maternal relatives their entire lives.
Public debate The orphaned orca's fate soon became a hotly debated public issue. Some feared Springer might be removed to a captive-display facility, even though a Stipulation of Dismissal in the 1976 lawsuit of Washington v. Don Goldsberry, SeaWorld, et al legally prohibited marine parks from capturing wild orcas in Puget Sound. Some argued that federal authorities should not intervene and rescue the young orca, even if the animal was likely to die alone in one of the most congested, contaminated waterways in North America, as scientists warned.
"It's going to be heart-breaking if we see the worst thing happen, which is to see her die," activist Donna Sandstrom of Orca Alliance (now head of the Washington state nonprofit The Whale Trail) explained on KING 5 News (NBC Seattle), "but we would rather bear that heartbreak than to know she's enduring it alone in a concrete tank." Sandstrom became an outspoken critic of direct intervention by NMFS in the local media, often pitted against advocates calling for Springer's rescue and return to her family in British Columbia. While advocates, researchers and scientists pushed since mid-January for immediate federal action to save this wayward whale, the beginning of March brought a new discord of opinions on the matter.
Activists like Howard Garrett of the Whidbey Island, Washington-based Orca Network also argued against rescuing Springer, and favored the federal government authorizing a "Social Approach," the introduction of regular human companionship for the orca, to put divers in the water with her to address the orca's social needs until she left Puget Sound on her own. Garrett's proposal of introducing regular human contact to a solitary, social, displaced orca in a major metropolitan area was considered by many scientists and advocates as potentially disastrous.
The Oregon Coast Aquarium (OCA) in Newport, Oregon where the orca Keiko was kept prior to his translocation to Iceland, offered its facilities to rehabilitate Springer for a one-year period, after which a scientific panel would determine whether or not she was fit to return to Johnstone Strait, BC. Media reports soon revealed that OCA was deep in debt and bound by an agreement with the Free Willy-Keiko Foundation (FWKF) that Keiko's former tank, built by FWKF, could never again house a wild orca. Furthermore, growing scientific opinion was that rehabilitating Springer in a concrete tank would further acclimate the orca to humans and likely result in permanent captivity. It was also widely reported that OCA was in financial hardship due to controversial loans taken out for renovations. It soon withdrew its offer. In July, OCA's Executive Director, Phyllis Bell, would "resign her post with little explanation.""Bell's Departure Clouds Future for Oregon Coast Aquarium," Diane Dietz, Eugene Register-Guard, July 4, 2002
In these first critical weeks of the Springer debate, Seattle-based non-profit Orca Conservancy, which would later emerge as the lead U.S. non-government organization in a similar, highly publicized effort to rescue and repatriate another displaced resident killer whale, L98, or Luna,Francis, Daniel; Gil Hewlett (2007). Operation Orca: Springer, Luna and the Struggle to Save West Coast Killer Whales. Harbour Publishing. . hit the local airwaves, repeatedly calling upon authorities to act immediately to rescue Springer and return her to her family in Johnstone Strait. As reported on KING 5 News, the group initially proposed a "Namu Shuttle," a scientifically peer-reviewed proposal to lure the orca into a hydrodynamic floating sea pen and tow it north — a plan employed successfully in 1965 by Ted Griffin to translocate Namu over 400 miles from British Columbia to Seattle. The distance from Seattle to Springer's repatriation site is approximately 250 miles.
Another option the group presented to the National Marine Fisheries Service was to transport the orca aboard a high-speed hovercraft the Canadian Consulate believed it could source from its Coast Guard. The overriding component of all these rescue options was to minimize human contact and keep the orca in the water as much as possible, provide medical treatment and draw blood samples in situ (in the water), expedite medical tests and clearances with Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and target a speedy translocation and reintroduction in Johnstone Strait in July, when Springer's pod historically returns to its summer habitat.