Baby orca lost battle against potent storm by Sandra McCulloch, Times Columnist

This killer whale calf which was discovered on a beach near Point No Point on May 4 died within a day or two of birth.

Photograph by: Stefan Beckmann, Department of Fisheries and Oceans

A dead orca calf that washed ashore west of Sooke in early May appears to have been a casualty of a strong windstorm that swept the coast with 40-knot winds, results of a necropsy show.
“This birth, combined with a huge storm, was bad timing for the calf,” Paul Cottrell, marine mammal co-ordinator with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, said yesterday.

Analysis based on DNA reveals the male orca was not one of the endangered southern residents but a member of a transient pod.

The death rate among orca calves in resident populations is steep, as high as 40 per cent over the first year.

The survival rate for transients is believed to be similar, although the transient animals prove more difficult to track.

The young orca was spotted on a beach near Point No Point resort on May 4 and was retrieved by DFO staff for examination.

A necropsy carried out by veterinarian Stephen Rafferty showed the whale was between half a day and two days old.

It measured just 2.4 metres in length and weighed 220 kilograms.

The lungs were partly inflated but it had very little milk in its stomach, said Cottrell.

“I think there were complications about being born with these huge waves and trying to nurse and breathe,” said Cottrell.

The calf had not been able to get its first milk from its mother that contains important nutrients to help it fend off infection. This also rules out earlier theories that the calf had been killed in part by toxins contained in the mother’s milk.

The calf also quickly became dehydrated, said Cottrell.

A check for causes of death showed the calf was “basically healthy” with no pre-existing lesions, pathogens or bacterial infections, Cottrell said.

Nor was the calf affected by demoic acid, a compound contained in some algae blooms.

The storm was likely the cause of death, said Cottrell, “but it’s always hard to say for sure.”

The calf was battered by waves pushing it ashore, he added.

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