It is all to the good for our own well-being and self-respect that we remain concerned about and empathetic to the plight of other creatures that we inhabit this world we call home with.  The interest evinced and the response on a wider scale than merely the indigenous peoples living in the far frozen reaches of Northern Quebec was heartening to see. What brought world attention to the small Inuit community of Inukjuak was the plight of a small pod of killer whales trapped in a sea of ice.

Marina Lacasse/The Canadian Press

They had only a very small area of open water where they were able to surface -- and then only enough space to accommodate several of the pod of an assumed dozen to emerge to the surface to breathe at any one time.  Theirs was a parlous situation, appearing as though they would not survive their ordeal and it was clear to the people who had travelled the hour from Inukjuak where they live, to the area on Hudson Bay where the whales were trapped, that the giant mammals were in panic mode.

Marina Lacasse/ The Canadian Press

It is cold enough in the area that the small patch of open sea could easily close up, dooming the pod to certain death; killer whales are not accustomed to ice; the orcas were 1,000 kilometres from where they normally would be, at this time of year, according to Pete Ewins of World Wildlife Fund Canada. "They got stuck (in Hudson Bay) and they're unlikely to get out."

In this Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2013 photo provided by Marina Lacasse, people watch as a killer whale surfaces through a small hole in the ice near Inukjuak, in Northern Quebec. 

 

Marine Lacasse/ The Canadian Press

"These guys are on the edge and they might not make it through", he remarked. For two days they were trapped around their sole breathing hole in the sea ice.  But on Thursday when two Inukjuak hunters approached the area they saw that the waters had opened and the orcas were no longer there.

"So as far as I could tell, the emergency for sure, is averted" said Mark O'Connor of the regional marine wildlife board.

People of the area believe a vast expanse of ice had developed due to a sudden drop in temperature, trapping the orcas. According to experts sea ice is recognized as a natural cause of death for marine mammals.