Springer is adapting well to life in her temporary pen.

That's both good and bad.

Good because she's beginning to eat well and acts alert. "She's responsive, she's bright, she's alert, she's sensitive to a lot of things in her environment," says Dr. Pete Schroeder, a marine mammal veterinarian working with Springer.

Part of that is because of what's in the pen with her -- logs suspended on a rope, blocks of ice -- they're items handlers put in the pen to stave off boredom.

"Our task is to keep juggling these things," says Dr. Schroeder, "so she keeps interested, keeps alert, keeps responding to them."

But Springer needs to stay as wild as possible to increase her chances of a successful re-introduction to her Canadian killer whale family. So the blocks of ice and logs on a rope are red flags for the group raising money to get Springer back home.

"When we saw a lowered log into the water as reinforcement for eating a fish," says Michael Harris of the Orca Conservancy, "that gives some concern because we realize that the deprogramming process has to start right away."

Springer's handlers also put her back in the stretcher used during her capture to give the orca calf some de-worming medicine. They inserted a half-inch stomach tube down her throat and poured six liters of water in with the medicine.

Two hours later, Springer ate 10 fish -- about 50 pounds of salmon. "So we surmise from that," says Dr. Schroeder, "that the treatment didn't create too much distress."

But the good news is that Springer has a virtual clean bill of health -- her skin condition is improving, and she has no genetic disorder. If the next test results come back clean, she'll be on her way to Canada.

"Our intent is to move the animal as soon as we have a green light from Canada," says National Marine Fisheries deputy administrator Joe Scordino. That could happen in two to three weeks.

To date, the NMFS estimates it's spent nearly $50,000 "out of pocket" on Springer's rescue. But adds that volunteers and donations of supplies add up to much more spent on the orphaned orca.