Wednesday September 23, 2020 ~ VANCOUVER ISLAND, BC
by Mary P Brooke, editor | Island Social Trends
Today September 23, it’s official… J57 is male. This is good news for a species that is struggling to maintain its population off the coast of BC and the northwestern USA.
Earlier this month, wildlife supporters everywhere celebrated the birth of this newest orca whale calf given the designation of J57.
The orca J-pod now has 73 members in its family of Southern Resident Killer Whales (SRKW).
The new calf was first spotted on Saturday, September 5.
J35 is the mother:
On September 5, the Center for Whale Research was given reports of a very small newborn killer whale being sighted. Their researchers Dave Ellifrit and Katie Jones, accompanied by guest veterinarian Dr. Sarah Bahan, quickly identified the mother as J35, Tahlequah.
Tahlequah made world news in the summer of 2018 when she carried her dead calf on her head for 17 days while the pod traveled about 1,000 miles around the Salish Sea on what was termed a ‘Tour of Grief’. She was subsequently still capable of producing a live calf after an approximate eighteen-month gestation.
Her new offspring J57 appeared healthy and precocious on his second day of ocean living, swimming vigorously alongside its mother in its second day of free-swimming life.
Important for economy and tourism:
In addition to the beauty of these magnificent marine mammals, the Southern Resident Killer Whales are a key identifying image in the BC tourism economy, and somehow make their way into the very psyche of most British Columbians.
Local MP Randall Garrison (Esquimat-Saanich-Sooke) has for years supported efforts to protected the SKRW endangered species, including the need to support salmon stocks which are a key nutritional need of the whales.
