This story was originally published on LincolnChronicle.org and is used with permission.
Turkey vultures circled overhead, their blood-red heads alert and large wingspans outstretched as the pungent stench of a decomposing gray whale permeated the beach south of Newport.
The 38-foot adult male gray whale had been dead for weeks before it washed ashore overnight Monday, its skin frosted white with bite marks along its flippers and jaw.
“There are signs of killer whale predation,” Marine Mammal Stranding Network program manager Jim Rice said Tuesday as he used a gloved hand to point to lacerations on the whale’s flipper, jaw and body.
Rice donned a green raincoat with matching rain pants and rubber boots Tuesday morning and brought along a small group of Oregon State University students to watch as he collected a sample of blubber and placed it in a cup to be tested in a lab at Hatfield Marine Science Center.
The whale was likely dead for a couple weeks before it washed ashore south of South Beach State Park, Rice said. It is the third gray whale that has washed up along the shores of Lincoln and Lane counties this spring.
Twenty-seven have been stranded in Washington this year, according to the Cascadia Research Collective, which keeps a running tally. Malnourished whales have been dying in the Pacific Northwest during their spring migration, pointing towards a population decline due to lack of feed in the Arctic Ocean.
“It’s alarming to see so many gray whales washing up on our beaches,” Rice said.
Although this particular gray whale was likely killed by an orca, its death might fit into this overall pattern, Rice said.
Killer whales tend to go after young gray whale calves, Rice explained. The fact that this adult male was preyed upon might suggest it was weakened or not fully healthy, although it’s difficult to say for certain.
Rice took samples of the skin, blubber and feces. Skin samples show the genetics of the whale while blubber can give indications of the nutritional state and samples of feces can show the presence of stress hormones and exposure to neurotoxins. Rice said he may come back to take more samples if there is any baleen, which could give more answers about the whale’s foraging behavior before it died.
It is uncertain what if anything will be done with the whale carcass because its disposal is up to Oregon State Parks.
To report a live or dead stranded marine mammal people should call NOAA’s West Coast Region stranding hotline at 1-866-767-6114 or fill out the Marine Mammal Stranding Network form through Oregon State University.
Shayla Escudero is an enterprise reporter for the Lincoln Chronicle covering local governments, education, housing and social services and can be reached at Shayla@LincolnChronicle.org