A team of scientists is investigating a dead orca whale found on the Kupreanof Island shoreline near Petersburg.
Greg Lutton was moose hunting on Kupreanof Island this week and said he saw the dead whale on his way out of Portage Bay.
“I’ve been fishing for 40 years now and never seen a dead killer whale,” he said.
Lutton said the large female orca had no signs of trauma and he measured it to be 17 feet and 4 inches long. The carcass is on the beach, right at the entrance to the narrow bay. Portage Bay is on the northern side of Kupreanof Island, between Petersburg and Kake. Lutton said the dead whale still looked pretty fresh and thinks it just washed up there.
NOAA Fisheries spokesperson Julie Speegle said marine mammal experts planned to secure the killer whale and get some initial samples, “We are going forward with plans to do a necropsy in the next few days.”
Speegle cautioned people to stay away from the whale carcass, “For your own safety, we don’t know what killed this marine mammal and it’s also part of federal law to stay your distance from marine mammals.”
Sometimes the cause of a whale’s death can be determined quickly but it can take several months before necropsy results come back. Anyone else seeing a dead or stranded whale should report it on the NOAA Fisheries marine mammal stranding hotline 877-925-7773.
