ZEBALLOS, Canada (AP) — A young orca trapped in a lagoon on Vancouver Island for more than a month overcome a bottleneck early Friday by swimming at high tide and reaching a cove that could lead to his death, officials reported.

The Ehattesaht and Nuchatlaht First Nations said in a statement that a team monitoring the 2-year-old calf saw her swimming past the spot where her mother died, passing under a bridge and walking toward the bay “completely alone.” .

The young orca has not yet left Little Espinosa Inlet to reach the open sea.

The calf had been trapped in the tidal lagoon near the town of Zeballos, British Columbia, since March 23, when its mother was caught during low tide and died on a rocky beach.

“Today the Zeballos community and people around the world are waking up to incredible news and proud of the strength this little orca has shown,” Chief Simon John said in a statement.

John said authorities and indigenous people had taken protective measures to ensure the orca did not come into contact with people or boats.

“We must give him every chance to return to his family with as little human interaction as possible,” he said.

In mid-April, an attempt was made to free the whale using a net to capture it. With the help of boats, divers and sophisticated underwater detection equipment, the orca managed to evade a 50-person rescue team.

In another attempt, a woman tried to get the orca out of the lagoon by playing the violin at high tide.