Orcas

135 Stories

Environment

Newborn orca brings holiday cheer — and fear — to Seattle whale watchers

What might be the world’s most famous orca has given birth again.
John Ryan
Environment

Southern Resident orcas have been seen wearing salmon ‘hats.’ But it's not all fun and games

Deborah Giles told KUOW’s Kim Malcolm that while this "salmon hat" phenomenon is certainly noteworthy, it's likely not a hopeful sign of long-term recovery.
Kim Malcolm

John O'Brien
Environment

Too much cyanide in Puget Sound? EPA to review state regulations

Federal officials have agreed to take another look at how Washington state regulates a deadly poison — cyanide.
John Ryan
Environment

Endangered Northwest orca population drops as 3 males die

Three members of the Northwest’s population of endangered orcas died over the past year.
John Ryan
Animals

Why the Salish Sea's new baby orca surprised researchers
Natalie Akane Newcomb

KUOW Staff
Environment

Shhh! The orcas can’t hear their dinner

When an orca hunts salmon, it clicks and buzzes. It sends a beam of sounds from its nasal passages into the murky depths in hopes that the sound waves will bounce back and reveal the location of its next nutritious meal. Those hopes are often dashed when noise from passing vessels drowns out orcas’ sonar signals.
John Ryan
Animals

Bellingham man fined $1,000 for steering yacht through orca pod

A Bellingham man has been fined $1,000 for driving his 51-foot recreational vessel through a pod of killer whales off the west side of San Juan Island in 2022.
Stephen Howie
Environment

Fisherman ordered to pay $646,259 for oil spill off San Juan Island

Washington state officials are ordering a salmon fisherman to pay $646,259 in damages and penalties for spilling diesel fuel into Haro Strait as his commercial fishing boat sank off San Juan Island.
John Ryan

John Ryan
Environment

Time is running out for stranded, orphaned baby orca near Vancouver Island

When Gary Sutton first heard that a Biggs Killer Whale was stuck in a lagoon along the coast of Vancouver Island, he could immediately tell by her distinctive white eye patch who it was: T109A3.
Natalie Akane Newcomb

Angela King
Environment

Orcas are actually not one species, but three

Researchers say that the killer whales deep in the Pacific Ocean should get their own species name. Bigg's killer whales should have their own, too. And the orca we commonly refer to as northern and southern residents should be considered their own species as well.
Paige Browning

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