Gray Whale Found Dead in Washington River Amid Population Decline
A juvenile gray whale was discovered dead in the Willapa River near Raymond, Washington, after swimming 20 miles upstream. This unusual event has drawn attention to the broader issue of declining gray whale populations in the eastern Pacific Ocean. According to John Calambokidis, a research biologist with the Cascadia Research Collective, the whale's journey may have been driven by hunger as the species faces reduced food availability in their traditional feeding grounds in the northern Bering and Chukchi seas. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries agency has declared an unusual mortality event for eastern gray whales from late 2018 to late 2023, with 690 strandings reported. The population, once thought to be rebounding, has continued to decline, with the latest count in 2025 showing only about 13,000 gray whales, the lowest since the 1970s. 
