Editor's Note: Photos depict the rotting whale's corpse. Viewer discretion is advised.
The young gray whale’s corpse was reported washed up right in front of the parking lot to Surfer’s Beach, near the southern end of Kodiak’s road system.
Matt Van Daele, the Sun’aq Tribe of Kodiak’s natural resources director, said it has clear signs of being hunted by a killer whale.
“You can see the remnants still of their tooth rakes on this left pectoral and it’s been bitten off,” he said. “There’s actually a nice little tooth rake right there, and then just this characteristic, again, flensing of the skin and the blubber.”
He’s not sure how old this whale is, but it’s smaller – and possibly younger – than a subadult gray whale that washed up in late May. That whale’s corpse was found by Van Daele and another biologist just a few minutes walk away, and was also likely killed by a killer whale.
“Even though this is kind of not what we’ve typically seen in orca kills around Kodiak, this is still characteristic for orca kills – just a little bit different behavior than what we’re used to seeing,” he said.
There is a transient group of orcas that wander around the Kodiak Archipelago and the Gulf of Alaska known by the community and biologists as the Kodiak Killers. They’re known to hunt marine mammals, but Van Daele said no sightings have been reported near town — about 25 miles from this beach — in months.
“We think that the last orca sighting in front of town was May 3 – very very beginning of May – and we haven't seen any sightings, even though there are a lot of sea lions still around,” he said.
It’s possible other orcas are hunting the young gray whales, but Van Daele said the Kodiak Killers are the most likely culprits for the recent deaths.
“The killer whales are smart – they’re going to go where the feed is,” he said.
On a survey earlier this year, he estimated that over 200 gray whales have been swimming near the east side of the archipelago this year. From what he’s seen, they were skinny but their bodies were overall in good condition and didn’t seem to be starving. Van Daele said the orcas likely see them as potential sources for food regardless.
The Tribe’s team is not planning a full necropsy for either of the juvenile gray whales that washed up, but did take some blubber samples. They plan to harvest the baleen, assuming the gray whale’s corpse doesn’t get buried before they have a chance.
He said it's possible more whales could wash up in the area in the coming months.
“Surfer’s Beach has always been a collector beach,” the natural resources director said. “That’s why it’s such a beautiful, fantastic beach, but it’s most likely that the kills happen right out there.”
About 30 whales have been found dead around Alaska so far this year – 12 gray, 13 humpback, and 5 unidentified cetaceans. Eleven have been found around Kodiak – 4 gray, 5 humpback, and 2 unknown ones.
