{"id":745072,"date":"2026-06-18T13:53:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T13:53:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/745072\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T13:53:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T13:53:16","slug":"were-thrilled-new-endangered-southern-resident-orca-calf-spotted","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/745072\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We\u2019re thrilled\u2019: New endangered southern resident orca calf spotted"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new orca calf born to the critically endangered southern resident killer whale (SRKW) population was recently spotted in B.C.-area waters.<\/p>\n

The orca, dubbed L130, is part of the L Pod and was first recorded on June 14, according to the Washington-based Center for Whale Research.<\/p>\n

Researchers are still trying to confirm who its mother is, but are happy to see a new calf born to the endangered population.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re thrilled to welcome a new calf during our 50th year working with this endangered population. Every calf is a reason for hope,\u201d said the Center for Whale Research in a social media post<\/a> Wednesday.<\/p>\n

\"\"The new SRKW orca calf, L130, is shown. (Center for Whale Research\/Facebook)\"\"The new SRKW orca calf, L130, is shown. (Center for Whale Research\/Facebook)<\/p>\n

There\u2019s roughly 75 SKRWs left in the wild, split between three pods \u2013 the L, J and K pods.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Their territory ranges from the waters around Vancouver Island north to Haida Gwaii and south as far as central California.<\/p>\n

\"\"(Orca Behavior Institute \/ Facebook)<\/p>\n

This week\u2019s new orca calf comes a few months after another SKRW calf was born to the L pod<\/a>, dubbed L129, which was observed on Feb. 16.<\/p>\n

It also comes just weeks after new federal government rules came into effect requiring boats to stay 1,000 metres away from SRKWs<\/a>, up from the previous minimum buffer zone of 400 metres.<\/p>\n

Unlike their relatives \u2013 the Bigg\u2019s killer whales, otherwise known as transient orcas \u2013 southern resident killer whales tend to stick to a smaller territory and feed primarily on chinook salmon, which are also declining in population.<\/p>\n

Bigg\u2019s killer whales are known to have a wider diet, including marine mammals like harbour seals, sea lions, and harbour porpoises.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new orca calf born to the critically endangered southern resident killer whale (SRKW) population was recently spotted…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":745073,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[49,48,295,66],"class_list":["post-745072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=745072"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/745072\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/745073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=745072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=745072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=745072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}