Nuisance orca now thriving with family

Remember Springer, the killer whale moved from Puget Sound and reunited with her family pod in B.C. waters?

A marine veterinarian involved in the move, Pete Schroeder of Sequim, checked recently on Springer and said the 5-year-old orca is thriving in Johnstone Strait.

"The rehabilitation and relocation of (Springer) is unprecedented and an unequivocal success," he wrote in the report for Global Research and Rescue, a group based in Freeland that says its goal is to assist wildlife that might be in distress.

Springer became a nuisance in early 2002, bumping into boats between Vashon Island and the Southworth ferry terminal. Alone and underweight, she was captured and moved.