âVery saddenedâ: Toa, the orphaned baby orca that enthralled New Zealand, is buried
Orca cared for by hundreds of volunteers and experts in bitter cold after becoming separated from its pod two weeks ago
Rescuers in New Zealand take care of baby orca Toa which became separate from its pod. Photograph: Eva Corlett/The Guardian
Rescuers in New Zealand take care of baby orca Toa which became separate from its pod. Photograph: Eva Corlett/The Guardian
Guardianstaff
Sat 24 Jul 2021 21.12 EDT
Last modified on Sat 24 Jul 2021 21.14 EDT
An orphaned baby orca that captured the hearts of people across New Zealand has been farewelled at a special ceremony and taken away for burial, ending a desperate mission to reunite it with its pod.
‘Very saddened’: Toa, the orphaned baby orca that enthralled New Zealand, is buried Guardian staff
An orphaned baby orca that captured the hearts of people across New Zealand has been farewelled at a special ceremony and taken away for burial, ending a desperate mission to reunite it with its pod.
The young calf, named Toa – which means brave or strong in Māori – was thought to be between two and six months old, and became stranded on rocks north of Wellington two weeks ago with minor injuries.
Since then, countless volunteers braved winter storms and cold water to keep it alive – bottle feeding it a special formula in a hastily built pool – while others searched for its family group.
A new teat was designed to feed baby orca Toa. “It was moving, incredibly emotional but also really uplifting in a way as well that this gathering of people got around Toa in his last times, and he brought us all together. I think that s a really incredible thing.” Norris said on Friday night there were “lots of hugs and lots of tears” among the volunteers and members of Team Toa’ who worked really hard to look after the orca calf. Speaking about the dawn ceremony on Saturday, Norris called it “a really lovely moment” as the community gathered together, said their farewells and had a karakia.
The West Australian, fed by AAP and AFP correspondents here. Here’s why: the world has endured upheaval and uncertainty over the last couple of years. Toa represents hope – hope for a happy ending. We’re all pretty much invested. As John Campbell opined on
Breakfast mid-week, “We’ve had a really crappy couple of years, and we want the fairy tale ending, don’t we? And isn’t it lovely that we do?” Exactly. Well actually, not all of us do. In the best vaudevillian tradition, there has to be a villain to this story. Enter, stage left, Peter Williams! A veteran broadcaster (code for “old” in news-speak) who has a baying following of callers on Magic Talk radio. Williams penned a blog earlier this week, with the temerity to ask, “Is it time to kill off orca baby Toa?”