A lone orca near Cape Breton’s Canso Causeway is garnering lots of attention from locals, tourists and folks online. The Marine Animal Response Society (MARS) has been keeping a close eye on him since his presence was first reported early last week. “It’s amazing, I mean, I’ve been watching whales here and researching them in the Maritimes for almost 30 years and I’ve never seen an orca here,” says Tonya Wimmer, MARS co-executive director and director of conservation. “We haven’t ever had one there before that we know of, there’s only been a handful of reports around the Maritimes of an orca that’s been close to shore,” Wimmer notes. MARS has been working with Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) to monitor the animal. “Just to keep an eye on it and to get a better feel for what it might be possibly doing there,” Wimmer explains. She went with DFO to assess his health on Monday, which she calls a great experience. The Canso Causeway has food for the orca and MARS says there’s evidence he’s been eating. “This seems to be the case of an animal who, finding food, probably came in. We’re hoping that eventually he’ll be done with the area,” she says. Orcas typically travel in pods, but young males are known to wander off on their own at times. But Wimmer says it’s a rare sight in Maritime waters. “We don’t know as much about the orcas on this coast like they do on the west coast. We see them sometimes in groups, we have seen a few by themselves, there’s a famous one in the Bay of Fundy, ‘Old Thom,’ this is not him,” she says. Many have voyaged down to the area to see the orca for themselves from ashore. “This is probably one of the most fascinating things with this, is that you can actually go down by the causeway, see the animal,” Wimmer says. “We have lots of amazing wildlife here, so this is a great opportunity to see that rare species. But we do ask - and especially Fisheries and Oceans Canada is watching – that people on the water maintain a distance of over 100 metres, observe him from a distance and don’t engage with him.” For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
