Baby Orca Missing, Presumed Dead

Image Credit: Contributed Photo/Carrie Sapp

The phrase “dire consequences” gets thrown around too often for the public to take it seriously.

So how do we learn what “dire” really means? We have to be shown.

The L-pod, part of the southern resident population of killer whales, has been listed as endangered in the U.S. since 2005. The J, K and L pods have been afforded protection under federal law and as of 2010, only 87 animals remained.

The marine-animal-loving world rejoiced when the first newborn orca calf in two years was born recently.

But only seven weeks after its arrival, L-120, that miracle newborn calf, is now missing and presumed dead.

“L-86 (the newborn’s mother) was seen and photographed on Friday, Saturday and Monday, all without L-120,” Center for Whale Research Ken Balcomb said.

Balcomb also says the disappearance of another calf and the absence of newborns points to the plight of the orcas, whose numbers continue to drop. That decline mirrors the decline of chinook salmon, the primary source of food for the southern resident orcas.

And guess what else?

The 78-whale population is at a 30-year low.

Animal rights activists and concerned welfare groups are constantly yipping and whining for change and yet they do NOTHING to help the magnificent orcas in the wild.

The wild is not perfect and we need to stop pretending that it is.

Unless the region’s salmon runs are restored and protected, it is very likely that these whales will continue to die out. Lack of a reliable food source is just one of the many factors contributing to the southern resident’s decline and that decline cannot be ignored.

Read more from The Islands’ Sounder on this heartbreaking story.