After Calf's Death, Orca Mother Carries It For Days In 'Tragic Tour Of Grief'
What began as a moment of joy ended in tragedy when the infant died last week. Since then its mother has refused to let go, holding her child tightly in what experts call a moving expression of grief.
For a brief moment last week, just off the coast of southwestern Canada, the typically grim outlook confronting orcas took on a hopeful hue. A whale watch operator, staring through binoculars, had caught sight of a healthy calf swimming beside its mother — a rare beacon for a population that had not seen a healthy infant in years.
It was not to last, however. By the time experts with the Center for Whale Research arrived, just half an hour later, the calf had already died.
But that's not the end of this
