Whale researchers say that an endangered southern resident killer whale was found pushing a deceased calf in the Salish Sea on Friday.
For some, the sighting may stir memories of another mother whale that behaved similarly in 2018, making headlines worldwide.
In a social media post about the latest incident, the Washington-state based Center for Whale Research (CWR) said that they had been alerted to sightings of the orca — named J36 — in Rosario Strait, located in Washington around 45 kilometres northeast of Victoria.
The CWR says researchers found J36 pushing a dead female calf on Friday afternoon, with an umbilical cord still attached. The baby whale itself was likely born within the preceding three days, they say.
“Based on the size of the calf, we estimate that the calf was either full-term or near full-term,” the organization’s social media post reads.
“It is unclear if this was a stillbirth or if the calf died shortly after birth.”
Michael Weiss, research director for CWR, said the majority of pregnancies in the southern killer whale population do not result in calves that survive and thrive.
“I think a lot of these females get pregnant, have a calf, it either dies very soon after birth or it is stillborn. And they probably carry it for a day or two or three. And we just never see them with it,” he told CBC News.
“It may happen multiple times a year and we just don’t see it.”
Killers: J pod on the brinkEpisode 1: “Tapping Out”
Hope turns to dismay as a new J pod calf dies before researchers arrive. When mother J35 carries its corpse for 17 days and 1000 miles, the world wakes up to the plight of the Southern Residents. Some call it grief; others, a message, and the drama of that hot summer becomes a symbol of the struggle to save J pod.
Weiss told CBC News that researchers cannot assign any individual death to a particular factor in the ecosystem.
But the scientist said that “low reproductive success in this population” is tied to high levels of pollutants — particularly industrial chemicals known as PCBs — that inhibit immune and reproductive function, as well as a lack of prey, especially Chinook salmon, which are orcas’ preferred prey.
“Really, if we want to be seeing fewer dead calves, we need to be taking serious action to restore Chinook salmon populations for these whales,” he said.
Researchers have previously said the behaviour where an orca pushes a dead calf is an apparent act of grief.
“It might be an emotional response. It might be an inability to let go. It might be an attempt to revive the calf. We don’t know,” Weiss said.
The scientist added that the bond between a mother killer whale and its calf is lifelong.
The mother nurses the calf for three years after carrying it for 18 months — and then the two are part of the same family for the rest of their lives.
“There are very few social relationships anywhere in the animal kingdom that are that strong, that stable, outside of killer whales,” he said.
J35, another female orca in the J pod, pushed the remains of her calf for 17 days in 2018, covering more than 1,600 kilometres of the sea in what scientists called “a tour of grief.”
Then, in early 2025, she was again spotted pushing another dead calf.
There are less than 75 southern resident killer whales remaining. They are a genetically distinct group of orcas that frequent the Salish Sea near Vancouver Island and Metro Vancouver, and feed on salmon.
J36 belongs to the “J pod,” a group of southern resident killer whales. Members of the pod are named starting with the letter “J” and a number.
The CWR said that researchers were on the scene Friday collecting more information on J36 and her dead baby, and they would provide more information when available.
A report from earlier this year stated that the southern resident killer whales faced extinction if Ottawa didn’t urgently step up conservation measures.
