We have had a number of enquiries from the public about a young killer whale that stranded in the Wadden Sea, Netherlands this week. The whale is being cared for by staff at the Harderwijk dolphinarium.
The reports we have read are that the calf is 350 cm in length which would indicate that she is between 1-2 years old. At such a young age killer whales typically have fewer distinctive marks on the dorsal fin and saddle patch that can be used for photo-identification. There is also a good chance she was born since our previous photo-id field seasons. There is therefore only a slim chance that we would be able to identify which population she came from using photo-identification. Genetic identification may however be possible.
Killer whales used to strand fairly regularly along the Dutch coast, about once a decade, but after 1963 no killer whales have stranded along this coast, or have been sighted in the Southern North Sea during surveys by the Dutch Sea Bird group. So this is a rare event. A killer whale was seen off the Danish coast in the last month, but we do not know if this was the same animal. Killer whale calfs are at there most vulnerable during the first year of their life, and mortality rates drop sharply once they reach 3 years of age.
We wish the staff at Harderwijk the best of luck with the rehabilitation effort, and hope the calf improves in health over the coming weeks.
-Andy Foote
