Southern resident orca L41 missing, feared dead

Another member of the West Coast's endangered southern resident killer whale population is missing and feared dead, according to experts.

On its website, the U.S.-based Centre for Whale Research wrote that L41, an adult male, was not present during a recent encounter with hispod.

"Given his age and that he looked a little thin in our January 2019 encounter, we fear he may be gone and will consider him missing unless he shows up unexpectedly in an upcoming encounter," the group wrote.

Thegroup'slast record of L41was from last summer, when Victoria photographer Mark Malleson captured the whale withhis pod in August 2019.

The whale,nicknamed Mega, is around 43 years old. He was born a year after the centre's study on the southern resident population began researchers there have been able to see him grow from calf to adult.

In 2019, thesouthern resident killer whale population dropped to 73 members anumber that includedL41. The whales have struggled in recent years;three whales from the group diedlast summer.

These whales, which are listed as endangered under theCanadian Species at Risk Act,frequent the area of the Salish Sea and feed primarily on chinook salmon.

For more on the future of the southern resident killer whales, listen to our CBC British Columbia podcastKillers: J pod on the brink.