Seaquake Kills Young Killer Whale
On 27 February 2014, scientists cleared the Canadian Navy in Sooke's death. According to Deafwhale Society's earthquake theory , the Canadian Navy was not responsible. Sooke was found dead on a beach just north of Long Beach, Wash. on 10 February 2012. Her body was battered, bloodied and bruised, and appear as if it were hit on left side by a shock wave or a powerful blast. Sooke was a 3-year-old member of the Southern resident killer whales, which make their seasonal home in the San Juan Islands, 42 miles south of Vancouver City (Canada). On 4 February 2012, at 12:05 pm local time, a magnitude 5.6 earthquake occurred along the Continental drop off, 50 miles west of Vancouver Island, and 146 miles upstream from the entrance to the Juan de Fuca Strait. It is likely that Sooke was swimming south only a few hundred feet from the vertical edge of the drop off when she was hit broadside by a powerful shock wave generated during the seismic process (open this pa...