On Sunday, January 28th, the J pod of Southern Resident Killer Whales that frequent the area around Southern Vancouver Island was sighted near San Juan Island.
Although sadly, a newborn calf, J60, was not seen with them and is now presumed dead.
The young orca calf was just over one-month-old, with researchers guessing he was born between December 23rd and 26th of last year..
It is unknown which orca female gave birth to him.
Around 2:11 p.m., most of the pod was seen resting in the area and socializing. A team of researchers with the Centre for Whale Research (CWR) did a few passes of the area and identified all the whales that were present, but could not locate any calf resembling J60.
“Back with the main group of whales, the team was able to get good looks at both J40 and J46, two more potential mothers for J60,” wrote a CWR researcher in their detailed report of the encounter.
“Neither female had a calf travelling with them.”
They said that after following the pod closely, they had been able to successfully identify every whale except for J60, and by that point it was clear the calf wasn’t there.
The pod then split into two groups near the Spieden Channel, east of Sidney.
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At this point the researchers launched a drone and followed the pod, switching back and forth between the two groups to keep track of their movements.
By 4 p.m., the weather took a turn on the researchers and they had to land their drone and go back to shore.
“Based on this encounter, we now believe that J60 is, sadly, deceased,” said the CWR in their report.
“Unlike adult whales, which may travel a significant distance from other whales for extended periods, we would not expect a one month old to be on its own for the length of time we observed the group.”
The J pod makes up much of the endangered Southern Resident Killer Whale population and J60 was the most recent birth to the species.
As of July 2023, a census of the Southern Residents found that there are only around 75 of the creatures left in total.
