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A pod of killer whales has been spotted far offshore from the remote Vancouver Island inlet where an orphaned orca has been spending time since escaping a lagoon last month, but a member of her rescue team is downplaying the prospect of an imminent family reunion.

A Vancouver Island First Nation that has adopted a young killer whale as its newest family member says concern rises about its ordeal with each day that passes, but strong hope for a rescue remains.

Work to coax the two-year-old Bigg's killer whale over a sandbar and into the open ocean started after its mother died more than a week ago when she beached at the lagoon and could not be saved.