Can Tahlequah’s tragic loss help turn the tide for southern resident killer whales?

It has been two weeks since Tahlequah, a 27-year-old southern resident killer whale, was first spotted in west coast waters carrying the body of her deceased calf, J61. If this tragic news sounds familiar, it’s because in 2018 she did the same, keeping her calf’s lifeless body afloat for 17 days.

Tahlequah’s loss has again sparked a global conversation about the urgent plight of this endangered whale population, now down to just 72 individuals. That’s two fewer than last summer when we joined other environmental orgs in petitioning the federal government for an emergency order to bring them back from the brink of extinction. (Read more here about the emergency protection measures we identified.)

Southern Resident killer whale J35 (also called Tahlequah) observed carrying a newly dead newborn calf.
Southern Resident killer whale J35 (also called Tahlequah) observed carrying a newly dead newborn calf.
© NOAA Fisheries

To better understand Tahlequah’s behaviour, what her loss means for the future of southern residents and the urgent need for an emergency order, we spoke to Hussein Alidina, WWF-Canada’s lead specialist for marine conservation, in Nanaimo, BC.

Is this her way of grieving?

While we know this is a repeated behaviour for J35, it’s hard to put our finger on whether this is grieving behaviour. Some scientists seem to think so. We do know orcas are highly social creatures and southern residents in particular have strong attachments to their family pods.

Offspring will generally stay together with their mother for life. This could be a strong demonstration of maternal instincts by J35 to care for her calf and ensure the calf’s wellbeing. By carrying the calf the way she is, she could be trying to revive her calf and instinctively hold her up to prevent the calf from drowning.

Do we know why the female calf — which lived for only a few days — didn’t survive?

We don’t know for sure what happened to this calf and what her cause of death was. However, we do know from people studying this population that more than two-thirds of pregnancies fail and, once born, young calves have a roughly 50 per cent chance of survival in the first year.

Survival is precarious for several reasons: a lack of access to food [Chinook salmon] for the mother can lead to poor nursing; complications from contaminants like harmful waste dumped from ships or discharged from land; disturbances that interfere with foraging, including underwater noise from shipping and coastal construction; or a combination of these.

What does this recent loss mean for the recovery of these endangered killer whales?

There are just 72 southern resident killer whales remaining, so every loss is a major blow to recovery.  J35’s deceased calf is female and could have grown up to give birth and help ease the population’s decline.

J60, a male calf born in December 2024 was reported missing this month. And L128, a calf born in September 2024, was last seen in early October in poor body condition and is currently missing and presumed dead. Researchers spotted a new calf in late December, J62, that appears to be in good health.

Of the four calves born to this population since September, three have not survived — this is the crisis that makes recovery of this population extremely difficult and why it requires extraordinary measures.

J35, also known as Tahlequah, was observed Jan. 1, 2025 carrying her newly dead calf in Puget Sound, Washington. (Courtesy of NOAA, NMFS Permit #27052)

Keeping her calf afloat must take a lot of energy, are scientists concerned about Tahlequah’s wellbeing?

In 2018, J35 carried her dead calf for 17 days across an estimated 1,500 kilometres,  not a small distance. If her energy is being spent on keeping her calf afloat, then she’s probably not doing other things like resting, looking for food and feeding. We also know winter is tough for these whales under normal circumstances, and more so now because of diminished Chinook salmon stocks.

The killer whales in this population do support each other with feeding and group hunting and in 2018, it was reported that other females were sharing in keeping the deceased calf afloat. It’s hard to say what’s happening in this particular case, but hopefully J35 is benefitting from these supportive behaviours.

What is the threat status of southern resident killer whales?

In the 1960s and early 1970s, many of them were lost from the population — captured and taken for aquariums. When the first census was taken in 1974, after these removals had stopped, there were just 71 individuals recorded in the wild.

Their numbers fluctuated but were on an upward trend until the mid-1990s, peaking at 98 individuals, but have been on  a downward trend ever since with now have just 72 remaining.

The Chinook salmon stocks that these whales depend on — depleted from historical overfishing, freshwater habitat loss, and climate impacts — are endangered themselves. But they can recover fairly quickly if we put in measures to improve the conditions that led to their decline.

Underwater noise affects the ability of these whales to communicate and echolocate to find food. While some promising efforts have been made by the shipping industry to reduce noise, levels will continue rising with the increasing vessel traffic in the Salish Sea, especially with the TMX pipeline opened and the Roberts Bank Terminal 2 approved.

Then there’s the threat of contaminants from long-lived, persistent and legacy chemicals that make their way into the water, including from municipal and industrial sources and operational ship waste in the water. These toxins accumulate in whales and can impair the immune system, reproduction and disrupt bodily functions.

Lastly, with a population this small, inbreeding has been documented. Inbreeding decreases the resilience of individuals and leads to shorter lifespans. It is likely affecting the fitness and survival of orca offspring and the recovery of the population.

If southern resident killer whales are to have any chance at recovery, we need to do everything we can to manage development and reduce the impacts of human activities on these whales, their food, and their habitat.

Southern Resident Killer Whale
© Scott Veirs, beamreach.org/Marine Photobank

WWF-Canada is calling for an Emergency Order to protect southern resident killer whales. Can you explain how this works and how you hope it will aid their recovery?

An emergency order is a provision under the Species at Risk Act (SARA) that exists precisely for situations like this, when a critically endangered species faces imminent threats to their survival. The federal government has the authority to bring forward an emergency order to establish threat reduction measures that would come into effect immediately.

Ecojustice, on behalf of WWF-Canada and other ENGOS, petitioned the federal government in June of last year for an emergency order. After an assessment, they agreed in November (for the second time since 2018) that southern residents face an imminent threat to their survival. Under SARA, the federal government now has a legal obligation to act. Our petition lists some 12 measures that the Government of Canada could implement within an Emergency Order to reduce the three principal threats these whales face.

The window is not just closing for the government, but for the orcas. There were several deaths last year, and another 14 orcas in such poor body condition that they are at high risk of dying. This is what SARA is for. Our federal government has the power to implement it and meaningfully reverse the threats these orcas face almost immediately.

How can people help?

You can help us hold the federal government to account by sending a letter today.

Write to the Ministers of Environment and Climate Change and Fisheries and Oceans demanding they recommend to Cabinet to implement an emergency order under the Species at Risk Act and give the southern residents the urgent protections they need now.

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This blog includes research from the Centre for Whale Research and the Orca Network.