Pygmy killer whale dies suddenly after being rescued from Cat Island

The pygmy killer whale rescued from the shore of Cat Island suddenly sickened and died on Wednesday morning, said Mobi Solangi, executive director of the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies.

Solangi said the animal had been recovering really well since its rescue Sept. 12, but was not eating Monday and started throwing up when veterinarians were examining it.

The 185-pound whale was monitored continuously from that point. He went into convulsions around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday and died.

“That was the only marine mammal that showed up live this year,” Solangi said, after hundreds of dolphins have washed up dead.

Solangi believes the environmental stresses from the Mississippi River flooding and the Bonnet Carre Spillway opening could have caused or contributed to the death.

The whale will be sent to the Mississippi State veterinary school for a necropsy, Solangi said.

The pygmy killer whales’ habitat is in the Gulf of Mexico near the mouth of the Mississippi River.

Anita Lee

Sun Herald

601-909-0638

Anita, a Mississippi native, graduated with a journalism degree from the University of Southern Mississippi and previously worked at the Jackson Daily News and Virginian-Pilot, joining the Sun Herald in 1987. She specializes in in-depth coverage of government, public corruption, transparency and courts. She has won state, regional and national journalism awards, most notably contributing to Hurricane Katrina coverage awarded the 2006 Pulitzer Prize in Public Service. Support my work with a digital subscription