By Abigail Gilder
Staff Writer
A pod of 14 killer whales were trapped by sea ice, discovered off the coast of Japan’s Hokkaido on Feb. 6.
A local fisherman spotted this pod of orcas and reported it to local government officials in the town of Rausu, located on the northeast coast of Hokkaido, according to ABC News.
Following this report, the news of the trapped pod spread quickly. According to The Guardian, environmental groups raised concerns, and social media posts soon prompted government action.
Drone footage of the struggling whales was captured and distributed by the media, with the footage being shown on Japanese TV. According to BBC, an environmental group petitioned the Japanese government to deploy ice breakers to the area in order to help the struggling whales.
This uproar yielded an official response, with Japanese officials traveling to Rausu in order to further monitor the situation.
This potential disaster garnered international attention, with wildlife organizations as far as the United States and Russia had offered assistance, according to ABC News.
Despite these offers from a plethora of groups, Japanese officials did not permit anyone to help, mainly due to the claim that direct human intervention would put all parties in danger, according to USA Today.
After returning to Rausu the following day, Japanese officials spent almost two hours searching for the pod of whales, recruiting local fishermen to provide assistance. They did not find the pod, and have since assumed they have made a successful escape.
Many have expressed great relief of the proposed escape, claiming the sight caused great distress. Seiichiro Tsuchiya, a Japanese domestic broadcaster, said, “I saw about 13 killer whales with their heads sticking out of a hole in the ice. They seemed to be struggling to breathe,” according to ABC News.
Experts have described the icy phenomenon as a result of ice floes. This occurs when there is ice and a lack of wind to break that ice up, leading to the ice not creating enough space for animals, such as orcas, to travel through, according to USA Today. This instance also occurred in 2005 to another pod of orcas who, unfortunately, died as a result.
While this event ended well, it could have gone south rather quickly. The Japanese government was slow to act on this issue due to the territorial disputes of the waters surrounding Hokkaido. Russia and Japan have been disputing this territory since the end of World War II and a peace treaty has yet to be signed due to ongoing hostilities as a result of the Russia-Ukraine War, according to The Guardian.
This event has led to many public outcries for Russia and Japan to cease hostilities and sign a peace treaty, in the event this occurrence happens again.
