A killer whale was found dead floating near the coast of Orkney.
The young female Orca was found in the sea near Hoy Island on New Year’s Day.
Local skipper and labourer Robbie Stanger, from Stromness, spotted the dead orca from his boat.
The Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Scheme (SMASS) said it had carried out a post-mortem yesterday to identify the cause of death, and that the results would be released in due course.
The team said they had focused on testing the calf for pollutants or entanglement, both factors the animals are particularly vulnerable to.
Killer whale found dead in Orkney was from an offshore pod
SMASS researchers have not identified the stranded Orca as a “known animal” and they believe it belonged to an offshore pod.
Further genetic testing and stable isotope analysis will reveal more information as well as data on the whale’s life history.
The Northern Isles Community currently has 27s, 64s or 65s pods which researchers keep an eye on.
The 27s pod currently has two calves less than five-years-old; the 65s pod has two calves less than three-years-old; and 64s has one calf less than three-years-old.
A check of all eye-patch images of known calves from over the last five years has proved negative, and specialists say they are “confident” this Orca is not a known member of any of the Northern Isles Community pods.
‘Incredible teamwork’ to get young Orca to shore
On the Shetland Orca Sights Facebook page, the team described the operation to recover the calf as “rapidly evolving” and praised the “incredible teamwork at sea and on the ground by Robbie Stanger, British Divers Marine Life Rescue, Northwards, Redlands Farm and RNLI Stromness.
Calf survival in some Orca populations is just around 50% in their first year of life.
