Friends of the Wild Side

08/14/2026

Socked in on the Wild Side, but the A34s could be heard, making their way westward, this afternoon. The fog lifted just in time to catch a glimpse of them.
🫍🫍🫍🫍🫍🫍🫍🫍🫍🫍🫍🫍🫍🫍

07/25/2026

It’s always hard to lose members of the NRKW, and today, with two confirmed deaths, and one more most likely, the news is heartbreaking 💔

Sad news has been confirmed by Jared Towers and OrcaLab:

A75 Cedar and her 2025 calf, A138, are gone 😭

I had hoped so much that Cedar would recover from her poor health conditions. I can't believe it.

Whenever there was an encounter with the A54 matriline, the first thing I did was scan the photos for her. It is so incredibly sad to have lost both of them.

A75 Cedar was 24 years old. She gave birth to her first calf A101 Kamux at the age of 10. She was seen with new calves A113 Pering and A127 Wolf again in 2016 and 2021.
Cedar successfully raised all her offspring.

In 2025, she was spotted with her fourth calf, A138.
But sadly she was also seen in poor health conditions with a depression behind her blowhole which is a sign of emaciation. Unfortunately, A138 has no chance of survival without its mother.

I think the Northern Resident community has suffered a huge loss with A75 Cedar.

Jared assured that the other offspring of A75 Cedar - A101 Kamux, A113 Pering and A127 Wolf were doing well. That is important to know 🙏

A*5 Echo of the A34 matriline is also in very poor health conditions. We will likely lose him, too, in the coming weeks. OrcaLab reports daily that he is very thin, swimming slowly, and making only shallow dives. His mother, A34 Simoom, keeps returning to him whenever he falls behind the group.

At 36 years old, Echo is the oldest male in the A-pod. The average life span for male orcas is around 29 years.

Many thanks to Jared Towers and OrcaLab for the information and certainty.

Picture of A75 Cedar and A138 were taken on July 25th, 2025 by Jared Towers published on finwave.

07/14/2026

A50s piled into the beach for a rub this evening
🎉🫍🎉🫍🎉🫍🎉🫍🎉🫍🎉🫍🎉🫍

07/01/2026

Well, it's Canada Day, and you know what That means! Friends of the Wild Side have our Research Field Camp up & running. 🎼 We stand on guard for thee 🎼 Waiting for Orca. 😎🇨🇦

06/25/2026

The A clan orcas went back west this morning, and returned again this evening.

06/24/2026

First NRKWs arrived in our study area this morning🎉A50s, A23s, & A25s🎉

06/15/2026

Yesterday, there was a North Pacific Right Whale breaching in Beautiful Bay!
With less than 50 of them known, it is the most endangered whale population on earth. The last sighting in BC, was by Jared Towers, in 2021 near Haida Gwaii.
A spectacular sighting from the Wildside research camp, and a very rare entry in our 2026 data book❣️

02/07/2026

This is really interesting, and good news for the orcas too😎

12/12/2025

Some humans have a LOT to answer for😰. Bring Corky Home, she was captured at 4 years old, locked away in a swimming pool, for human “entertainment”, for 56 YEARS!
It’s well past time, to Bring Corky Home❤️‍🩹💔❤️‍🩹

Corky’s saddest Day

Incredibly, December 11th, 2025 marks the 56th anniversary of Corky’s capture. She only had four years at most with her mother before she was stolen away. We can only imagine her and her mother’s fear, confusion and sadness. It was wrong, hurtful and ignorant.

Corky’s ability to withstand the stresses of captivity for so long - deprived of her family and the ocean she was born into - can only be explained by her will to live. Knowing that people around the world want her to come home, she is above all, patient.

On this day, let’s dream Corky back to her deep, beautiful ocean, back to the sounds of her family, back to where she, in her own dreams, is already, as she circles around and around and around again.

Please, join us in lighting a candle for Corky today.

Paul & Helena

11/28/2025

Oh la la, we love a November beach rub! A 23s hit the beach this morning, travelling east🤗