By The Associated Press
FRIDAY HARBOR — A newborn calf has been spotted among one of the pods of orcas (killer whales) returning to the Puget Sound.
The baby orca was seen last week when a majority of the three pods of killer whales returned to the San Juan Islands, as they do each year.
Ken Balcomb of the Center for Whale Research says all the adult orcas in the three pods seem to be accounted for, including one killer whale that had not been seen since February.
Balcomb says the newborn calf is male and still had his umbilical cord attached.
That means he is only days old. His birth brings the total Puget Sound or Southern Resident orca population to 88.
The Northwest’s orca pods are listed as endangered under the Endangered Species Act.
