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In the photo, J50, July 21, 2018. She was last seen on September 7th and the authorities are now worried that J50 is already dead. ( NOAA Fisheries )
Where is J50? Authorities remained on alert for the age of 3 years, fearing that she was already dead.
Orca J50 missing
J50, also known as Scarlet, is a young killer whale that the authorities have been watching for a few weeks because of its weakening. Since August, biologists have been monitoring Scarlet's condition after she was observed to be lethargic.
Scientists feared that they could not survive. On September 7, she was seen half a mile behind the rest of her pod and they found that she had become thinner and weaker.
The Sept. 7 sighting was the last time Scarlet was seen and late in the afternoon of Sept. 14, Ken Balcomb of the Center for Whale Research declared her dead. In response, a NOAA Fisheries spokesperson said the US and Canadian governments would continue their research.
The latest update of the agency on Facebook however indicates that the team has terminated the active search. However, the US Coast Guard, the West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Network and various water researchers will remain on alert.
This is not the first time that Scarlet is dead because she sometimes disappeared for days, but she still returned to her group. In fact, Scarlet had disappeared for two weeks last August, just before the authorities could give her medicine against a common parasite they had found in her excrement.
In an attempt to help her when she reappeared, a vet even shot her with a dart filled with antibiotics, while the crew also dropped salmon in front of her just to make her eat .
If Scarlet were to reappear, the authorities should capture her and take her to an institution where she will remain in captivity until she recovers and is then released back into the wild.
Population of southern resident killer whales at risk
There is insufficient evidence to determine the exact status of the entire population of killer whales or killer whales in the world. However, southern resident killer whales have been considered at risk over the last decade as numbers continue to decline. In fact, their population, including Scarlet, increased from 98 in 1995 to only 75 today.
This decrease in numbers is mainly due to the decrease in their main food source, chinook salmon, which is threatened by water toxicity, overfishing and vessel disturbance. It does not help either that the population of killer whales in the region is already weak. Apparently, Scarlet is important to the group because she is one of the few members of childbearing age.
Interestingly, Scarlet is in the same group as J35 or Tahlequah, the bereaved mother who wore her dead calf for weeks after her death.
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