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CNN Live Today

Wayward Whale Scheduled to Begin Long Journey Home

Aired July 12, 2002 - 10:36   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: I want to check in on the wayward whale who is scheduled to begin a long journey home this hour. She might have to wait a little while longer. Apparently, there are transportation problems. Our Lillian Kim joining us from Manchester, Washington.

Lillian, it's not just us human travelers that sometimes get delayed. Apparently, it happen to a killer well as well.

LILLIAN KIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Daryn. Her name is A-73. That is her scientific name. She is also known as Springer or Boo short for "baby orphan orca," and currently in the net pen behind me. But her trip, after much anticipation and a great deal of preparation, is now on hold.

The catamaran that will transport the young whale, the 2-year-old whale, to Canada, is experiencing mechanical difficulties. Scuba divers are underneath that boat, trying to pinpoint the problem, but at this point, we have no idea what the source of the problem is. All we know is that the boat is going about half the speed it is capable of going. It can reach top speeds of 40 knots, about 45 miles per hour. But we've been hearing that it's only going about half that. And the problem with that is that they don't want to whale to be on the boat for a long period of time. They wanted this high-speed catamaran so the trip can conclude quickly. They wanted the whale to get there in a relatively short period of time, about 10 hours, for a 350-mile-long journey.

So at this point, the operation is on hold. The hope is to get it here by noon, local time. But at this point, we have no idea. We have been hearing possibly this operation could be postponed until the weekend -- Daryn.

KAGAN: Postponed due to mechanical problems, something that we have heard quite a few times.

Lilian Kim in Manchester, Washington, thank you very much. We will keep our eye on that, though.

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