Pod of a dozen killer whales disappear a day after they were seen trapped and gasping for air in a tiny gap in ice flow off Japan
A pod of killer whales that became trapped and gasping for air in a small ice stream off Japan’s northern main island of Hokkaido, sparking concern among environmental groups, has apparently escaped safely.
The killer whales, also known as killer whales, were initially spotted by a local fisherman who reported them to officials in the nearby town of Rausu on Hokkaido’s northeastern coast yesterday morning.
City officials traveled to shore later in the day and saw about a dozen whales bobbing up and down in a small hole surrounded by drift ice about 1 kilometer offshore.
After analyzing drone footage filmed by a conservation group, officials there counted 13 killer whales.
Officials returned to shore last night and found the capsule had moved north, and it was gone when they returned this morning, Rausu official Masataka Shirayanagi said.
A group of about ten killer whales were spotted stuck in the ice in northern Japan. Drone footage captured the struggling orcas trying to break free from the large ice chunks off the coast of Rausu
The head of one of the orcas can be seen protruding from the huge chunks of ice
Officials said they believe the orcas were able to free themselves from the drifting ice as the gap between them widened.
“We believe they escaped safely,” Shirayanagi said.
The footage, captured by a conservation group drone and shown on NHK national television and on social media, sparked concern in and outside Japan about the whales’ conditions and pleas for the Japanese government to help.
One group submitted a request to the Ministry of Defense to mobilize an icebreaker to help free them.
Although the captured whales were in Japanese waters, they were not far from an island disputed by Japan and Russia.
A rescue mission failed as the city said they had ‘no choice but to wait for the drift ice to break and for them to escape’
Japan today marked the annual Northern Territory Day to renew its demand for the return of the Russian-occupied islands.
The dispute over the islands, which the former Soviet Union captured from Japan at the end of World War II, has prevented the two countries from signing a peace treaty formally ending their wartime hostilities.
Moscow announced it would suspend negotiations with Tokyo over Japanese sanctions following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters today that orcas are not listed as an endangered species in Japan and that officials were monitoring the situation as Japan and Russia communicated on the issue.
A pod of killer whales was recently spotted hunting dolphins off the coast of La Jolla in San Diego, California.
A surfer sees the group of killer whales rip apart a dolphin before the dead mammal sank into the water
Footage from that moment showed a group of surfboarders watching killer whales leap through the water off the coast of San Diego’s La Jolla
Surfers and swimmers witnessed the rare event up close when a pod of killer whales chased and tore apart a dolphin near shore.
Footage of that moment shows a group of surfboarders watching orcas jump through the water.
As they floated quietly on their boards, we saw the orcas emerge from the end of a pier and throw a dolphin out of the water.
The group then attacked and tore the mammal apart as it sank into the water.
During this time, a man was heard saying, “Oh my god, they’re literally eating the dolphin.”
A few seconds later, the group was seen swimming off into deeper waters, while one man quickly swam parallel to the orcas.