A necropsy will be conducted to determine what caused the death of a humpback whale that washed up near the Tsawwassen ferry terminal this week.
Andrea Jacobs, executive council member for Tsawwasseen First Nation, said cultural advisers and elders said a prayer and played a drum song for the humpback, which was found Friday.
“We just wanted to be respectful and do the right protocols,” she said. “Now it is left up to DFO to determine what happened.”
Tsawwassen First Nation enforcement officers arrived in the area, near the ferry terminal, about 9 a.m. and secured the area while waiting for fisheries officers to arrive. Shortly before 1 p.m. a Canadian Coast Guard hovercraft arrived to assist in removing the whale, which was taken to the hovercraft base on Sea Island.
Paul Cottrell, marine mammal co-ordinator for Fisheries and Oceans Canada, said a necropsy will be performed. “It’s very important to find out what happened to this animal, why it has died and, if there is a human cause, what that is,” he said.
Cottrell said it is difficult to tell at this point how old the humpback whale is.
“I’ll be able to tell better once we get to the examination,” which he said could take some time.
Dr. Stephen Raverty, a veterinary pathologist with the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands in Abbotsford, will conduct the necropsy.
Raverty will also perform a necropsy on a killer whale calf found on Nootka Island, on Vancouver Island’s west coast.
