A pod of at least 10 killer whales have been trapped by sea ice off Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido, and the group including calves seem potentially doomed to die.
Officials from the coastal town of Rausu said they have no way to rescue the orcas, which were first spotted by a local fisherman.
“We have no choice but to wait for the ice to break up and for them to escape that way,” a Rausu official told the public broadcaster NHK.
A local fisherman contacted the Rausu Coast Guard Station today to report seeing a killer whale stuck by the ice drift not far from the shore.
Drone footage shared by a local wildlife organisation, Wildlife Pro LLC, showed the whales struggling in a small gap between ice flows.
The organisation said it encountered the whales while doing marine research.
“I saw about 13 killer whales with their heads sticking out of a hole in the ice,” a wildlife employee who filmed the video told NHK.
“They seemed to be struggling to breathe, and it looked like they included three or four calves.”
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A lack of wind in the area has meant the ice trapping the orcas has remained stagnant.
Sea ice hugs the coast of Hokkaido every winter, and is the lowest latitude sea ice in the world, but over recent years levels have been declining as global warming accelerates.
In 2005, a group of killer whales were also trapped in drift ice off the coast of the town and later died, according to NHK, citing Rausu town officials.
