Emaciated orca calf spotted off Vancouver Island, researchers say

An "emaciated" orca calf (L128) is pictured with an adult (L83). (Courtesy: Center for Whale Research)

Just a couple of weeks after a new southern resident killer whale calf was first seen, its health appears to have taken a bad turn.

The U.S.-based Center for Whale Research announced the new L-Pod calf, named L128, on Sept. 16, and said researchers “did not note anything obviously wrong” with it at the time.

The story was different when field biologist Mark Malleson spotted the calf off Vancouver Island on Oct. 6.

L128 was emaciated and “looked far from healthy,” the centre said in a statement Friday. “The calf appeared lumpy and skinny.”

Researchers said the photos Malleson took of the calf show an “obvious decline” and the shape of its skull is visible. The small calf’s mother, L90, was foraging for food nearby, and the baby was with another orca from the pod, L83, which swam toward the boat with the calf draped across her nose.

“As she carried the calf down the side of the boat, Mark’s heart sank — he was certain the calf had stopped breathing,” the statement reads. “L83 jiggled the calf, as if desperately trying to revive it. As she continued past the stern of (the boat), Mark thought he saw the calf take a faint breath and return to her side.”

Researchers described the behaviour as “concerning,” with the calf remaining limp for long periods of time.

The centre added it’s unclear why L128 was not with its mother.

A team went back on the water the following day, but did not see L83, L128 or L90. The CWS said it is not categorizing the calf as missing or dead, as “more data is needed to confirm this young whale’s fate.”

The centre released its latest census of the critically endangered southern resident killer whale population last week, which saw a decline from 75 orcas in 2023 to 73 this year. As of July 1, the J Pod had 25 individuals, the K Pod 15, and L Pod 33 (not including L128), according to researchers.

The only southern resident calf born during the July 2023-July 2024 census period, J60, died after a short life researchers described as “strange and tumultuous.”

“This population needs every new addition it can get, and the loss of a calf is always tragic,” the CWR wrote Friday. “For L90 in particular, the loss of her first documented live-born calf would be a major blow.”