Orca: Whale from Rare Group off Scotland Found Dead

One of a very small pod of killer whales, or orcas, along Scotland's west coast was found dead recently, entangled in fishing net, washed up on the Isle of Tiree.

"I was expecting to see it when I went, but it was still a great shock and shame to see such a magnificent animal still in good shape dead on the shore," John Bowler, a bird photographer, and the head officer for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds on that island for 14 years, said in an article in TakePart. "A great pity that the first-ever killer whale I should see should be under such circumstances."

The whale measured about 20 feet long and has been identified as Lulu, a member of the tracked pod of orcas that lives off the country's west coast, according to the Facebook page of the Scotland Rural College's Marine Animals Strandings Scheme.

There may be as few as nine in that pod, according to the Hebridean Dolphin and Whale Trust. Also, no calves have been produced by the pod since the conservation organization began studying them in 1992. 

Andy Foote, a post-graduate student in whale ecology at the University of Aberdeen and a cetacean specialist with the trust, identified the orca by looking at the distinct shape of her eye and saddle patches and comparing those with photos. One of Lulu taken in 2014 off the Isle of Skye was a match to the markings.

Deep scarring and wounds to the fluke found in an autopsy showed that the orca's tail was probably wrapped in rope or (other) fishing material. The autopsy was performed by the Marine Animals Strandings Scheme. No ropes were found with the killer whale.

While Lulu was the strandings team's first encounter in the last year with a killer whale scarred by entanglement, they have seen an increase of entanglements among other whale species in that period, according to the article.

"There does seem to be an increase in entanglement [for other cetaceans] over the past few years, but we need to properly analyze the data to see if this is a real trend," Andrew Brownlow, the strandings team's director and a veterinary pathologist, said in the article.

Only three females remain in the pod, after Lulu's death.

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-Follow Catherine on Twitter @TreesWhales