Newest Southern Resident orca is “far from healthy”

Last week, Washingtonians received distressing news: the newest Southern Resident orca calf is now struggling to survive. After an encounter in early October, the Center for Whale Research reported that the calf is “emaciated” and barely breathing.

The Southern Resident orca calf was born in mid-September, and has been seen traveling with L pod, one of the three main social groups of the Southern Resident population. Dubbed L128, the newborn was good news for the struggling Southern Resident population. During the first few sightings, L128 was noted to be small but healthy, measuring in at seven feet long. But by the time the calf and its mother were spotted in early October, L128 was limp and skinny, being held afloat by another orca in the pod.

Despite the dire news, Washingtonians haven’t lost hope for the Southern Resident orcas. Last Wednesday, nearly four hundred people packed into a lecture hall and logged on virtually to hear about the orcas, and their struggle to find food and peaceful waters. The event was hosted by the University of Washington Department of Communications, and featured Seattle Times reporter Lynda Mapes, who spoke about her time reporting on Tahlequah, the Southern Resident orca who carried her baby for seventeen days after it passed away.

The audience was made up of students, families, professionals, whale enthusiasts, and passionate individuals. And despite the recent news about L128, the questions posed in the lecture hall were full of hope, and the atmosphere was one of positivity and action.

Just a few days later, dozens of people came out to Orca Recovery Day hosted by Orca Conservancy and Green River Coalition. Planting more than 500 native trees and shrubs, volunteers helped to restore habitat for the Southern Resident’s primary source of food: chinook salmon. When asked about participating, one volunteer said that she came out to honor L128.

Recent sightings of L pod have shown no indication of the whereabouts of young L128, and the future of the orca calf is still unknown. But we do know what we can do to help. The Southern Resident orcas are starving. Their primary source of food, chinook salmon, is in decline. In order to ensure the dwindling Southern Resident orcas survive, we must breach the four major dams along the lower Snake River, which prevent chinook salmon from migrating to their spawning grounds.

Breaching these dams would open up 140 miles of pristine habitat for salmon spawning, and create a more robust chinook population for the Southern Resident orcas to eat. With more salmon, the Southern Residents would be able to raise their young into healthy adults, and the orcas could once again thrive.