Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Death of Sooke (L112) Confirmed

On Feb. 11, 2012, a stranded killer whale washed up just north of Long Beach, Wash. Photographs of the dorsal fin and saddle patch were matched to catalogs of known killer whales by biologists from NOAA Fisheries and the Center for Whale Research. The whale has been identified as a member of the Southern Resident L Pod known as L112, a female calf of L86. A full necropsy was conducted on Feb. 12.

Samples were taken for a variety of analyses. Processing of samples could take several weeks or months, and will hopefully provide insight into the origin of the traumatic injuries or other factors that may have contributed to the death of this whale. More information is available on the Cascadia Research website at:
http://www.cascadiaresearch.org/examination_of_dead_killer_whale-12Feb2012.htm

In November a killer whale calf stranded on the Washington coast on Nov. 14, 2011. A genetics sample was taken and the female calf has been confirmed as an eastern North Pacific offshore. A congenital defect was determined to be the cause of death in this case.

1 comment:

  1. There exists strong evidence that Sooke encountered violent alteration in pressure induced by an undersea earthquake before she ran blindly into the sonar ship.

    http://www.deafwhale.com/seaquake_solution/2012/killer_whale_L112.htm

    In every incident in which sonar has been implicated, we always find that a whale-dangerous earthquake has occurred upstream from and prior to contact with the sonar vessel. Seaquakes induce barosinusitis which leads to the loss of directional senses in whales. If Sooke was suffering barosinusitis, it is understandable why she got too close to the sonar vessel. On the other hand, if she was not suffering prior injury, it is extremely difficult to explain why she did not run from such an injurious encounter.

    Capt. David Williams
    Deafwhale Society, Inc

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