Baby orca found dead near Vancouver Island

A baby orca was found dead Tuesday afternoon near Vancouver Island, according to The Vancouver Sun.

The Pacific Whale Watch Association said the deceased whale could be one of the eight new babies born over the last year to the J-Pod group of killer whales, the Sun reported.

Michael Harris, executive director of the association, told the Sun on Tuesday night there is “a flurry of activity” trying to identify the orca.

“We’re holding our breaths right now,” Harris said.

J54, the newest member of the J-Pod’s baby boom, was first seen by whale watchers near San Juan Island and is the second offspring of 22-year-old J28, the association said earlier this month.

The association said the baby boomlet is the largest since nine calves were born in 1977.

The southern resident orcas are listed as endangered but their population this year is now tallied at 84, Harris told the Sun. The mortality rate for orca calves is about 50 percent in the first year, he said.

Harris said that an abundance of chinook salmon for the fish-eating orcas has been the key to the population boom.

The Sun reported that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in Canada has conducted a necropsy but that the results haven’t been released.