Rescuers still trying to save male orca off Dungeness Spit

Volunteers and rescue officials from the state and federal government continued Friday to try and save a bull orca in the Strait of Juan de Fuca which seemed determined to beach himself.

The dramatic rescue began Wednesday, when one female orca was discovered dead near Dungeness Spit and a nearby male was also beached.

More than a dozen representatives of the National Marine Fisheries Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the Whale Museum and the Center for Whale Research have responded to the scene, trying to save the male and ascertain what killed the female orca.

The male was pulled off a sandbar Wednesday by rescue personnel and towed out into the strait, but he has repeatedly returned to shallow water.

Brian Gorman with the public affairs office of the NMFS said the male orca “is determined to beach himself. This sometimes happens.”

Why whales sometimes purposely beach themselves is a mystery. The male orca is believed to be related to the dead female, and the orca may be grieving. Gorman said that when necropsies are done on whales that beach themselves, physical problems are often never found.

Gorman said the male orca appears to be in good shape physically.

A necropsy is being done on the female to determine her cause of death. It’s believed the two orcas are northern transients, not members of the resident pods that inhabit the waters of the San Juans. Gorman said the saddle patches and other markings on the two orcas are not matching up with any of the known orcas of the resident pods.

The last time a dead whale washed up on shore – a member of the local J-pod, found on a beach near Tsawwassen – the necropsy showed that the whale died of a massive infection. Many scientists believe that infection was caused by a collapse of the whale’s immune system, perhaps due to high levels of PCB in his system.

Northern transients are known to have especially high levels of PCBs in their flesh. Because of the possible presence of PCBs in the dead orca’s blubber, representatives of the federal Environmental Protection Agency are on hand, because the whale’s carcass may be so polluted that it actually constitutes a toxic waste.

Gorman said rescuers will get more aggressive in trying to rescue the bull orca, but that ultimately, there is only so much they can do, especially if the orca simply just re-beaches himself over and over until he finally dies. “At some point we’ll have to make a decision” whether the orca can be saved, said Gorman.

— Pierre LaBossiére reports on sports, environment and law enforcement for sanjuanjournal.com and The Journal of the San Juan Islands, sister publications of islandsweekly.net and The Islands’ Weekly. He can be reached at (360) 378-4191 ext. 20 or email.

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