When a baby porpoise was spotted in distress off the Sooke, B.C. waterfront, onlookers quickly came to the rescue.
Sooke resident Ina Winterburn was walking along Whiffin Spit in the late afternoon because, as she explained, “any walk along the spit makes for a good day.”
“The walk that was personally full of photographic potential turned into an exciting affirmation that there are wonderful, caring people in our everyday lives,” she said.
Winterburn noticed a hiker had discovered a baby harbour porpoise in distress in the shallow water.
A team jumped to the rescue of a baby porpoise in distress at Whiffin Spit. (Submitted)
“He waded in and supported the tiny creature for well over an hour while phoning Vancouver’s Marine Animal Rescue Centre,” she said. “The aquarium reached out to Mike (Walsh) from H.I.P. (Adventures by H.I.P.) and Allen (Krutz) from West Coast Outdoor Adventure to assist in the rescue.”
Krutz took over in supporting the baby porpoise in a towel sling for the next hour while Walsh went to the Sooke Basin to pick up rescue personnel who had flown in on a Whistler Air float plane, to take them to Whiffin Spit.
“They immediately stabilized the baby porpoise and prepared it for transfer to the aquarium,” Winterburn said.
“The last I saw of the porpoise was as it was being transported back to the float plane with its caregivers. It was only a few short minutes later that I watched the plane fly overhead on its way back to Vancouver, she said.
“(Sooke) is a great place to live.”
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