Content Warning: This piece contains detailed descriptions of a deceased mammal.
It's 10:55pm. I have just arrived at the stretch of Bates Beach where J032 “Rhapsody’s” body is being kept. She has been pulled away from the waves in preparation for tomorrow’s necropsy.
She is lying on her left side, right pectoral raised majestically to the sky above. If the full moon wasn’t hidden by clouds, she would be bathed in moonlight. The rain is pattering against her smooth firm skin; shiny enough to see your own reflection. Watching the raindrops trickle down the curve of J032's body, I can't help but feel as though Mother Nature herself is weeping tonight, mourning the loss of yet another daughter.
Rhapsody's mouth is open, her tongue bloated and grey, but her teeth very much visible, each and every one of them perfect.* There appears to be trauma to her head, specifically in her mouth area where there is a significant amount of blood.
Her genitals are swollen and beginning to decompose badly. Bloody tissue, fatty skin, and what appears to be the tail of an unborn calf are beginning to be pushed out of her body due to the swelling from decomposition.
Her dorsal fin is erect, beginning to decay at the top. Her saddle patch is clear - this is indeed J032, there is no longer any doubt about that.
The white of her skin is mottled and purple where she lies, too still. This is the last night she will rest ashore. This is the last night she will be whole. Tomorrow at first light the necropsy will be performed, but her death will not be in vain. It is our hope that our questions of “how” and “why” will be answered soon, and it is our greater hope that these answers will help protect the rest of the Southern Resident Orca Population.
Photos to come when I arrive back at the hotel. I’d like to stay here a little while longer with her – these are creatures that should never be alone.
*Sometime in the hours between when I left Rhapsody on the beach that night, and the early morning hours of the necropsy the following day, several of her teeth were removed by vandals. No one was ever charged for this heinous act.
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