Newborn calf brings in spring

By Denise Titian Ha-Shilth-Sa Reporter

Opitsaht, BC –Acalf was recently born to the feral herd of cattle that have roamed freely on Meares Island for more than a century.

According to resident Norman Thomas, the calf was born onApril 3, behind his house, located at the back side of the village of Opitsaht.

“My boys (in early 20s) saw it being born yesterday and they were worried that dogs or something would get after it when the mother wandered off,” Thomas told Ha-Shilth-Sa.

Tla-o-qui-aht residents say that the missionaries of Christie Indian Residential School brought cattle in during the early 1900s. But farming never took hold for the children that attended the school at Kakawis or for the residents of Opitsaht. Now feral, the herd roams a forest trail between Kakawis and Opitsaht freely.

They have adapted to life on the west coast, grazing on the lush lawns of Opitsaht and Kakawis. They also head to the beach at low tide to munch on eel grass.

book. Promptly his online community was able to identify some of the members of the transient pod. The biggest give away was an orca named Chainsaw (T063).

Born in 1978, Chainsaw was named by the identifiable markings on his dorsal fin that resemble the shape of the motorized tool. It’s widely speculated that he received his famous markings in his youth from an animal like a sea lion. His mother, Whidbey II (T065), born in 1968, was most likely present. The Tseshaht beachkeepers were with the pod for roughly forty minutes from Nahmint Bay to Dunsmuir Point, across from China Creek. Sieber explains that they would breach, and then dive under. The crew would scan the distant surface until the pod would breach once again roughly 300 to 400 metres away from them.

It’s believed that the group are Bigg’s orcas, also commonly identified as transient killer whales. They’re known as the wolves of the sea for their stealthy hunting tactics, only staying in locations for brief durations and traveling up to 100 kilometres per day.

“Kakawin, killer whale, it represents a very strong [and] fearsome whale,” said Sieber,using the Nuu-chah-nulth name for the animal.

Unlike the Southern Resident killer whales, whose diet is primarily chinook salmon, Bigg’s are mammal hunters. Their diet includes harbour seals, harbour porpoises, steller and California sea lions, Dall’s porpoises, Pacific white-sided dolphin, and on occasion, other whales, according to the Georgia StraitAlliance. Sieber said he received a report from his friend who sighted the pod in Uchucklesaht Inlet only an hour later. The following day Chainsaw and his pod were spotted nearAhousaht.

As a Tseshaht beachkeeper, Sieber often sees humpback whales, some gray whales, and eagles. He has often found trading beads throughout his years as a beachkeeper in the Broken Group Islands.

“It’s [an] amazing feeling to work out in our homelands,” said Sieber. “There’s a certain type of energy you get when as soon as you enter the Broken Groups just knowing that’s where our people come from.”

They are not formally cared for, but people sometimes feed them fruit when they come to the village. One calf with a congenital deformity in its leg was rescued from the herd in 2021.

Still, it’s a treat for locals to see calves being born in their village in the spring.

The calf born this week was left alone in Thomas’s backyard. Believing that the mother would come back, the family let them be. But Thomas found the calf laying on the frosty grass behind his house early onApril 4, alone and cold.

“The mother wasn’t there yesterday, and I worried that it wouldn’t come back,” said Thomas.

He wrapped the newborn in a comforter and got a bottle of milk and warm water.

He said the calf appears to be a male and its mother comes back now and then, but doesn’t stay with the newborn.

“She kicked it away, once,” said Thomas.

The calf took some of the milk after Thomas modified the baby bottle. It could be heard braying loudly.

Thomas contacted the CARE Network, an animal rescue society based in Tofino.

“They said they would send someone to look at him,” said Thomas.

For now, the newborn calf found a sunny patch of grass to lay down on as it calls out to its mother.