The grim images that surfaced at the end of July of a mother orca carrying her dead calf for hundreds of miles in what has been described as a tragic display of grief for her child have once again, ever so briefly, raised awareness of the plight of the southern resident killer whales.

But Jason Colby, author of , maintains that more than a transitory feeling of sympathy is called for.

B次元官网网址淪omething like this happens and, for a few days, everyone feels bad for the whales, but the news moves on and people forget about how serious the situation really is,B次元官网网址� said Colby.

B次元官网网址淭his is a population on the verge of extinction and itB次元官网网址檚 time we do whatB次元官网网址檚 needed to save them. Wait much longer and it will be too late.B次元官网网址�

The whale, designated as J-35 but also known as Tahlequah, gave birth near Victoria on July 24 near Clover Point, but soon thereafter, the calf died.

ItB次元官网网址檚 a situation that saddens, but does not surprise the Centre for Whale Research that reports that approximately 75 per cent of newborn southern resident killer whales do not survive and that 100 percent of the pregnancies in the past three years have failed to produce viable offspring.

B次元官网网址淭hese whales are starving, so itB次元官网网址檚 not surprising,B次元官网网址� said Colby.

B次元官网网址淥f course there are a lot of factors at play that are contributing to the stresses on the remaining 75 whales, but the simple truth is that they are starving to death.B次元官网网址�

The problem, said Colby, is that there has been a massive decline in the Chinook salmon food stocks that make up nearly all of the whalesB次元官网网址� diet.

B次元官网网址淯nlike transient orca populations, the southern resident whales have been considered to be unique. Some consider it a separate species from the orcas that are more general feeders and may eat other fish stocks or marine mammals,B次元官网网址� he explained.

B次元官网网址淐hinook salmon have been their primary food source for tens of thousands of years and now they are disappearing.B次元官网网址�

Colby said that itB次元官网网址檚 a source of frustration for those who care about the orcas, but itB次元官网网址檚 not reasonable to suggest that the southern residents should just change their diet.

B次元官网网址淭hese animals have been described as B次元官网网址榗ulturally conservativeB次元官网网址� and are just doing what they have been doing, very successfully, for thousands of years.B次元官网网址�

The answer, he said, is to take immediate steps to help the chinook stocks to recover. That would involve placing an immediate moratorium on the sport fishing of Chinook and the removal of some dams on the American side that are impacting the spawning grounds for the fish.

On the Canadian side, he said that the Kinder-Morgan pipeline, while not impacting Chinook in the same way, will have an enormous effect on the orca population, should it go ahead, as more marine traffic poses a serious danger to the species.

B次元官网网址淭here has been an evolution in our attitudes toward the orca population,B次元官网网址� said Colby, B次元官网网址渂ut more is needed.B次元官网网址�

There was a time, he said that the federal government installed a Browning machine gun on a lookout on Quadra Island to shoot orcas that fishermen said were threatening their catch.

(Various other remedies were also explored, including bombing the whales from the air.)

B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檝e thankfully moved on from that point, but now itB次元官网网址檚 time to go a little further and work to save these magnificent animals. These whales, more than any other population of cetaceans on earth, helped to change our minds about orcas and whales in general. They have been iconic and trans-formative in respect to whale science and environmental activism and we owe them a chance to survive.B次元官网网址�

And, so far as the description of J35B次元官网网址檚 behaviour as grieving goes, Colby acknowledged that there is a danger in looking at the behaviour of an intelligent cetacean and projecting human emotions upon them. Still, he doesnB次元官网网址檛 discount the behaviour.

B次元官网网址淲e know that these are very intelligent animals and weB次元官网网址檝e seen similar behaviour in other cetacean species. If this wasnB次元官网网址檛 grieving, then IB次元官网网址檓 not sure what else it would be.B次元官网网址�