A test run to help save a young orca on the brink of death may come too late. Time is running out even as the feds approve a plan to try to save her.
U.S. and Canadian scientists are at the ready to try to save J50. But she hasn't been seen since last Friday. And now they fear she may have already died.
The news about the ailing orca known as J50 feels personal for Michael Harris.
"I had the honor of being able to introduce the birth of J50 to the world," Harris says.
He is former head of the Pacific Whale Watch Association. Harris shared photographs of J50 from May of 2015, some six months after her historic birth into the southern orca's JPod.
"And that was an amazing birth," Harris said. "That was a sign of hope. That was the first of 11 births in this population in 13 months to a population of 78 animals. (It was) a bona fide baby boom in 13 months."
And even with the discouraging news about J50, Harris says he still has hope she can be saved.
"And the good news is that we've got a federal agency, NOAA fisheries, that's outside the box," said Harris, "that didn't even ask and just said we're going to do something about it and went out and put together this plan to rescue her, feed her fish, to get her hydrated, get some meds into her, see if we can save this whale."
But there is less optimism from the very NOAA experts working to save J50.
"The whales were not sighted yesterday," said NOAA's Teri Rowles. "And as a matter of fact, it's been several days since they have been sighted in U.S. waters."
Rowles, who runs NOAA's National Marine Mammal Health and Stranding Response Program, said in a telephone news briefing that hope is fading.
"It is very possible that she has succumbed at this point and that we may never see her again," she said. "We are hopeful that there is still a chance that we will be able to assist her with medical treatment to give her enough time to get nourishment."
The plight of J50 has captivated the world and raised the profile of the endangered orca in the southern Salish Sea. Her dire situation came to light as the world watched her pod mate, J35, appear to struggle with the death of what was believed to be her new calf.
NOAA and the Lummi (Indian) Nation have been doing trial runs to practice feeding and treating J50 if and when she is found again.
Rowles says the orca desperately needs the help.
"What is visible to us is a significant decrease in body condition," she said, "but we have no strong indication as to the cause of that."
But they have a list of what could be ailing her.
"Infections are high on that list," she added.
Still, the nearly heroic effort alone to save J50 has filled Michael Harris with optimism.
"We have a lot of hope for that whale," said Harris. "You can't give up on these whales. For all the things that we've done to them, they're still around."
Much of the information NOAA is getting about the JPod is coming from Fisheries and Oceans Canada. They are actually in the water trying to find the pod. They say fog has been a big problem.
But it is clear no one on either side of the border is giving up, at least not yet.
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