Two More Puget Sound Orcas May Die

a southern Orca breaches with Mt Baker as a backdrop

Puget Sound orcas are undergoing a dark passage:  their numbers are dwindling and observers say the cause is mostly starvation. {10.11.14} Observers say two more orcas may die by this summer.  The southern residents went into winter thinner than they were went arriving from the San Juan Islands last summer according to photographs taken by monitoring drones.  The northern group is faring better with more food and cleaner, more quiet waters.  This group produced ten calves this year.  Several southerners were documented as pregnant in 2018, but no calves have been located.  A mother, named Talequah, was seen grieving her dead calf for days, keeping it above water with her head and carrying it for 1,000 miles.  The southern group's population is at a thirty-five year low.

Photos taken on New Year's Eve show J17, a breeding forty-two year old female is suffering from a deformity called "peanut head", known to be a symptom of starvation.  K27, a twenty-seven year old male is also failing.  He lost his mother in 2017, and is not foraging successfully for himself.  The southern whales have a cultural tradition of mothers helping their pod, especially sons to feed.  Three southern orcas died in four months last year.  Now only seventy-four individuals remain in the population.  The only question that remains is what will man do to save these sentient mammals from extinction.  Man has a clear responsibility in these tragic circumstances.  His pollution, resource exploitation and noise generation has made it much more difficult for these chinook salmon-eating orcas to compete with other marine predators and thrive.

Only 185,862 chinook made past Bonneville Dam on the Columbia--sixty-five percent below the ten year average.  The Frasier River's run that enters the Sound is also declining.  To his credit, Governor Jay Inslee of Washington has asked for $1.1 billion to help the endangered population.  The funds including study of ways to breach the lower Snake river dams to increase salmon runs, among other measures to improve their habitat.  Actions speak louder than words, however, and action is needed quickly before the last southern orca disappears forever.