Rescuers in British Columbia pause efforts to save an orphaned orca calf stranded in a lagoon [Video]

Originally Published: 06 APR 24 01:06 ET

Updated: 12 APR 24 21:57 ET

(CNN) — A team of rescuers has suspended its efforts to save an orca calf that has been stranded for nearly two weeks in a remote lagoon on Vancouver Island off the west coast of Canada.

Crews with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and the Ehattesaht First Nation made the decision Friday afternoon the orca calf was not ready to be moved and stood down from their rescue attempt, according to a news release from the department.

The calf became stranded in the Zeballos lagoon after its mother got trapped on a sandbar in the lagoon’s shallow waters and died on March 23. The mother was pregnant at the time of her death.

Crews tried several methods to coax the calf into the shallow area of the lagoon but she refused, the release said. Friday’s operation was the result of almost a week of planning and the work of 50 people, …