Juvenile gray whale found dead in Willapa River, hunger suspected
AP News • • general
Key Points:
- A juvenile gray whale that swam 20 miles up the Willapa River in Washington was found dead, with hunger suspected as a key factor driving it into unusual hunting grounds amid declining gray whale populations.
- Gray whales in the eastern Pacific have faced a major crisis since 2019 due to reduced food availability in their Arctic feeding areas, leading to malnutrition, decreased birth rates, and increased mortality.
- NOAA Fisheries declared an unusual mortality event for eastern gray whales from 2018 to 2023, recording 690 strandings and a population decline to about 13,000, the lowest since the 1970s.
- The whale entered the river near Raymond, Washington, attracting public attention, but despite appearing thin, it showed no visible injuries and behaved normally before traveling further upriver into inaccessible waters.
- Researchers plan to examine the whale to better understand its condition, highlighting the broader challenges gray whales face during their long northward migration when they rely heavily on stored nutritional reserves.
