Orca Stranding Hints at Pollution Problems

On August 2, 2008, the carcass of a prematurely born orca calf was recovered on a beach on Henry Island, just north of San Juan Island. Joe Gaydos, regional director of The Seadoc Society, examined the calf with Brad Hanson, a wildlife biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service. Although the carcass was badly decomposed, Gaydos and Hanson hope to establish whether it was a transient or a member of the rare southern orca population. High levels of PCBs have been implicated in premature births and the researchers will try and establish whether this might have been the case here. This story was covered in the local news outlets, here: KUOW NPR Pod Cast Seattle Post Intelligencer Seattle PI blog Kitsap Sun San Juan Islander