Gray Whale Found Dead After 20-Mile River Journey in WA

Gray Whale Found Dead After Unusual 20-Mile Inland Journey

A juvenile gray whale that had captured the attention of Washington state residents after swimming approximately 20 miles up the Willapa River — far inland from its natural oceanic habitat — was found dead near the town of Raymond, Washington. The whale was discovered on a Saturday in April 2026 after several days of community concern about its health and wellbeing during its unusual freshwater journey. The Willapa River flows into the ocean at Willapa Bay on Washington's southwest coast.

Hunger Likely Drove Unusual Behaviour

John Calambokidis, a research biologist with the Cascadia Research Collective, said that the whale's unprecedented inland journey was likely driven by hunger resulting from food shortages affecting the eastern Pacific gray whale population. Gray whales undertake one of the longest migrations of any mammal on Earth — approximately 5,000 miles (8,000 kilometres) — from their winter birthing grounds in the lagoons of Baja California, Mexico, to their summer feeding grounds in the Bering and Chukchi Seas north of Alaska. "Gray whales are facing a major crisis and the heart of it does seem to be feeding on their prey in the Arctic," Calambokidis said.

Mass Mortality Event and Population Decline

NOAA Fisheries declared an unusual mortality event for eastern Pacific gray whales covering the period from late 2018 to late 2023, involving 690 strandings from Alaska to Mexico. The primary causes cited by investigators included ecosystem changes in Arctic feeding areas leading to malnutrition, decreased birth rates, and increased mortality. Although the population was once believed to be recovering toward its pre-commercial whaling estimates of approximately 26,000 animals, the most recent 2025 population estimate stands at approximately 13,000 whales — the lowest count since the 1970s and a figure that has alarmed marine biologists monitoring the species' long-term viability.