Orca calf stranded in Canada lagoon to be airlifted and reunited with family [Video]

• Plans are underway to airlift a stranded killer whale calf from a remote tidal lagoon off northern Vancouver Island.
• Canadian Fisheries Department and First Nations officials are coordinating the rescue effort.
• The rescue could happen within days or within the next two weeks, according to Paul Cottrell from the Fisheries Department.

Plans are underway by to airlift a stranded killer whale calf out of a remote tidal lagoon off northern Vancouver Island in an effort to reunite the young orca with its extended family, Canadian authorities said Wednesday.

Canadian Fisheries Department and First Nations officials said the plan involves placing the 2-year-old calf into a sling, lifting it out of the lagoon by helicopter and putting it in a net pen in the ocean while they wait for its family pod to be near before release.

Rescuers have been unable to coax the young whale out of the area since its pregnant mother was stranded at low tide in the lagoon and died …