No body has been sighted, but after months of missing her, researchers have declared that the oldest orca in Puget Sound’s J pod is presumed dead.
The loss of J2, better-known as Granny, marks a turning point for the small community of southern resident killer whales in Puget Sound and its environs. Orca communities are centered around older females, which made Granny the leader of J pod.
It’s not known precisely how old Granny was, but Ken Balcomb, executive director and principal investigator at the Center for Whale Research, said estimates put her likely age at 76 back in 1987. That would make her 105 years old now.
Balcomb said he last spotted Granny on Oct. 12, swimming ahead of the rest of the pod in Haro Strait, between the San Juans and Vancouver Island.
“Perhaps other dedicated whale-watchers have seen her since then, but by year’s end she is officially missing from the SRKW population, and with regret we now consider her deceased,” he wrote on Saturday in a tribute to the orca.
Granny’s presumed demise adds to five other deaths in J pod over the past year, including an orca that was apparently killed last month by blunt-force trauma to the head, possibly due to a run-in with a boat.
Dwindling food sources are a major factor behind the orca population’s decline, according to the Center for Whale Research.
Decades ago, the total southern resident killer whale population was estimated at more than 140. As of Dec. 31, the total population is estimated at 78, including 24 orcas in Puget Sound’s J pod and a wandering whale known as L87.
“Who will lead the pod into the future?” Balcomb asked. “Is there a future without food? What will the human leaders do?”
