Wednesday, April 01, 2009

Transient T44 found dead

T44

John Ford of Canada's DFO reported the sad news that 31 year old male Transient T44 had been found dead near Port Hardy, BC. T44 and his family, the T41's have been sighted and reported regularly to Orca Network, and T44 was one of those easy to recognize whales with his large fin with a nick in it.

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A couple of days ago, the MacKays were told of a sighting of a dead orca floating near Hope Island (near Port Hardy). The DFO was alerted and with the help of a Coast Guard boat, that was in the vicinity, the whale was secured. DFO was able to identify the 31 year old transient male as T44. A necropsy will be performed in the next day or so. Finding a whale, soon after death, is a very rare occurrence and presents an opportunity to gain valuable knowledge.
Helena Symonds, Orcalab

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