yesterday afternoon trying to refloat a stranded orca. Officials decided against shooting the orca as no visible external injuries were found. They successfully moved the animal from shallow to deeper water but, despite attempts, were unable to completely refloat it or coax it out of the bay. Officials commented in an online article from Haugesunds Avis that if the orca was still in the bay today (Monday), they would reconsider euthanasia as an option.
Unfortunately, this was the case, with the orca's health having reportedly deteriorated over night. According to an online article published in the Aftenposten, Karmøy county's wildlife manager, Peder Christiansen, stated in a press release that he had been in contact with the Food Authorities and the Fisheries Agency experts on cetaceans. Both agencies assessed that the animal's behaviour was not normal, and that it was very sick. They therefore recommended that the most merciful action to take would be to euthanise the orca.
According to Google translate, Christiansen said in an interview that officials "received advice and instructions from the Directorate on which caliber the killer whale was to be euthanized with" ("Naturforvalter Peder Christiansen i Karmøy kommune opplyser at de har fått råd og instrukser fra Fiskeridirektoratet om hvilket kaliber spekkhuggeren skulle avlives med").
"It is very rare for orca to strand and in the UK we will only see them (strand) once every 10-12 years. Obviously where there is a larger population strandings may happen more frequently. Even so it is usually found that individuals that strand or are in danger of stranding are usually compromised in some way, whether caused by natural or anthropogenic influences."
Orca Aware would like to thank supporter Rebecca Hornli Lundberg for her help with article translations.