Death of gray whale found under ferry dock may remain a mystery

The gray whale found dead under Colman Dock Jan. 21 was likely killed by the propeller on a commercial vessel.

“It was a large propeller, and that’s the best we could estimate,” said Jessie Huggins, stranding coordinator with Cascadia Research Collective.

Based on the whale’s wounds, the propeller that struck the whale was not a personal craft, said Huggins. Exactly what vessel killed the whale will probably never be known, which is usually the case.

“It’s like finding a needle in a haystack,” she said.

The whale died from a series of lacerations, according to Michael Milstein, spokesman for National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“They were quite deep,” he said. “[The propeller] penetrated to the body cavity and sheared off ribs.”

After biologists studied the whale, it was pulled into Puget Sound and sunk.

The examination found the whale was a juvenile female, about 2 to 3 years old. She was just over 30 feet long and was in good health before death because its blubber was thick, with healthy amounts of oil.

Biologists are not sure why the whale entered Puget Sound, since most gray whales have already migrated south along the outer Washington Coast by this time.

Huggins said it was “unusual” for a healthy whale to be in Puget Sound in January.

“Generally, we see one to two whales every year that is outside the normal spring migration,” said Huggins. “Most tend to be on the sick side […] This one was unusual.”