I76 took his last breath on Sunday in front of a whale researcher that watched him grow up. Photo: The Orca Lab
On August 17, a 28-year-old male northern resident killer whale died in Johnstone Strait. Named by researchers as I76, the whale was well-known to the whale-watching community, and Jared Towers, a whale researcher at Bay Cetology watched him take his last breath.
“I’ve had to change the official status of many northern resident orcas from alive to deceased over the years,” Towers said in a social media post, “but I have never watched one pass until this day.”
Towers was one of many who watched as I76 grew older. Northern resident killer whales, which aren’t the same as the more well-known southern resident killer whales, are an ecotype of orca whale that lives mostly off the coast of British Columbia, Canada. They do travel to Alaska and the waters off Washington State. They’re currently listed as threatened under Canada’s Species at Risk Act, so every member of each pod is important. There are three clans, which are made of several pods. As of this writing, there are only around 300 of them left.
According to reports, I76 was with his mother, his sister, and a three-year-old nephew when he died.
“During [the] years, I watched him grow,” Towers continued. “I watched him socialize, forage, sleep, beach-rub and play, always alongside his kin.”
In the days prior to his death, the Orca Lab said that the killer whale had been seen in poor health. Towers was called out to take a closer look and watched with sadness as the whale struggled.
“Jared Towers had come out specifically in response to the previous day’s concerns about I76, the oldest son of I4,” Helena Symonds wrote for the Orca Lab in a heart-wrenching tribute to the whale. “He was extremely thin and having difficulties. Jared found him on the Vancouver Island side of the Strait opposite to the entrance to Blackney Pass. The rest of his small family were farther away.”
As he watched, a pod of dolphins appeared, which didn’t make I76’s mother happy. She moved to protect him.
“As several dolphins surrounded and overwhelmed I76, his mother came flying across to him. Jared said he had never seen a northern resident move so fast and that she was clearly upset,” wrote Symonds. “From that time on his family remained close to his side with the dolphins surrounding the entire family who were more or less stationary. This continued until just before 3 p.m. when I76 took his last breath and sank out of sight into the depths. His family lingered near his last position, then began to call.”
The last time Towers spotted I76 in July, the whale appeared to be in good shape, so his death seems sudden and the cause hasn’t been determined. There are multiple threats to the species, however, including the alarming drop in salmon populations — which makes up the majority of the northern resident whale’s diet — toxin accumulation, and boat strikes.
