SEATTLE — June is Orca Month and for more than a decade it's been about raising awareness about Southern Resident killer whales. Now organizers want this year to be about action.
Some know her as Tehlequah, others call her J35, but most others know her by her story that caught the attention of the world in 2018. The 20-year-old Southern Resident orca carried the corpse of her baby 1,000 miles for 17 days.
“People realized, wow, a grieving mother is spending 17 days and thousands of miles with her calf,” said Rein Attemann, with the Washington Environmental Council.
Rearchers said that tragedy gave the Southern Resident whales the attention needed to let people know they're struggling to survive.
“Tehlequah did all the awareness month that was necessary and now Orca Action Month is intended to engage the public to be the voice that the orcas need,” said Attemann.
Atteman said Southern Resident whales face several challenges. Their food source, the Chinook salmon, is endangered and the whales already have a small population of 76.
“The orca population itself has a low reproductive rate, a high mortality rate, and very few females in the population,” said Atteman.
Doctor Deborah Giles is researching ways to save the population. She said they’re worth fighting for as a symbol of the Pacific Northwest.
“They from a picture of both the health of an Eco system and the disconnect with what we're doing and how that's translating to the rest of the environmental world,” said Dr. Giles.
Orca Action Month started with some good news, just one day before the start of June an orca calf was spotted in Canada, A sign of hope and a call for action.