J32, also known as Rhapsody (Photo: Center for Whale Research) 
 
 Scientists with the Victoria (B.C.) Marine Science Association say a necropsy found that the whale found dead on Vancouver Island was pregnant with a full-term fetus, which may have caused the whale's death. 
 
 The 18-year-old orca J-32, nicknamed Rhapsody, was found dead on Thursday. 
 
 The VMSA said via Facebook on Sunday that the current theory on the cause of death is that the calf may have died first, resulting in an infection, which contributed to or caused Rhapsody's death. Lab results are pending. 
 
 The orca's head will be sent to a lab in the United States for MRI testing to determine if there was any acoustic damage, though that is not suspected. 
 
 The Victoria Marine Science Association said the necropsy began with a sage smudging ceremony by a local Indigenous man. 
 
 "It was a very moving and powerful way to send Rhapsody on to rest and thank her for the information she and her calf have provided to science," the Association said. 
 
 CTV reported Sunday that an investigation is underway after it was discovered that four of the whale's teeth had been sawed off and stolen. 
 
 The death marks a major blow for a population already struggling with low birth and survival rates. The total population is now 77. 
 
 Earlier this fall an orca calf was presumed dead seven weeks after its birth. It's been three years since the J, K or L pod produced a baby that survived more than a year. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Read or Share this story: http://www.king5.com/story/news/local/2014/12/07/dead-orca-pregnant/20065489/ ||||| The Department of Fisheries and Oceans is investigating after someone removed several teeth from a dead killer whale as it lay on a Vancouver Island boat launch waiting to be examined by biologists. 
 
 The endangered orca, known as J-32, was reported floating in the water near Courtenay on Thursday. The area is located on the eastern side of Vancouver Island more than 200 kilometres northwest of Victoria. 
 
 Officials with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans moved the carcass to a boat launch Friday evening, where it was set to undergo a post-mortem examination on Saturday. 
 
 By morning, several teeth were damaged or removed, said Paul Cottrell, the Pacific marine mammals co-ordinator for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. 
 
 "Her jaw and teeth were in great shape and solid," Cottrell said in an interview Sunday. 
 
 'Cut off right to the gum' 
 
 "It looks like they broke off a couple, and there were a number that were sawed off, and those were cut off right to the gum." 
 
 Cottrell said fisheries officers are following up on a number of leads. 
 
 He said the department doesn't know what motivated the theft, such as whether it might be linked to the sale or trade of endangered species. 
 
 The federal Species At Risk act makes it illegal to possess part of an endangered or threatened animal. 
 
 The law carries a range of sentences depending on whether the perpetrator is a corporation, non-profit group or a private citizen. For individuals, the maximum penalty is a fine of $250,000, up to five years in prison or both, though maximum sentences are rarely imposed. 
 
 The necropsy on a Vancouver Island beach took most of the day and drew a crowd. (Allen Felker/VITV.ca) 
 
 "It's just a senseless, illegal act," said Cottrell. "We take this kind of thing seriously. We don't want endangered species parts being traded or sold." 
 
 Biologists who have been examining the whale have yet to determine a cause of death. 
 
 The necropsy revealed the whale was pregnant with a full-term fetus. 
 
 Marcie Callewaert of the Victoria Marine Science Association, a fledging group that she hopes to turn into a non-profit soon, said she went to the area to see the whale on Saturday. 
 
 Callewaert said it's significant any time an orca dies, and she said the missing teeth just makes it worse. 
 
 "I set eyes on her on the beach about the same time a lady told me that her teeth had been cut the night before, so that was two blows at once," said Callewaert, a Grade 6 teacher who spends her summers as a whale-watching photographer. 
 
 Tissue samples from the orca and the fetus will be examined at a number of labs across North America, said Cottrell of Fisheries and Oceans Canada. Results are expected in four to six weeks. 
 
 The skeletons will be donated to the Royal B.C. Museum. 
 
 Significant blow to killer whale population 
 
 The death of the orca is considered a significant blow to the killer whale population and efforts to rebuild it. 
 
 J-32 was a southern resident orca. Until the animal's death, there were believed to be 78 southern residents in the wild. Of those, 17 to 18 were believed to be reproductive females. 
 
 The whale that was found dead on Thursday , J-32, had been carrying a full-term fetus, the necropsy team reported. (Ken Balcomb of the Center for Whale Research) 
 
 "When you have 78 animals and you lose an animal that is just going into breeding age — a female that has the potential to contribute for decades — that's a huge loss to this population," said Cottrell. 
 
 "Just the fact that she was so close to giving birth, it's unfortunate, because that calf, if it had lived, would be significant to the population." 
 
 Cottrell credited the Marine Mammal Response Program, a network of volunteers along the coast who report injured or dead animals, for alerting the department to the orca so quickly, allowing biologists to retrieve a "pristine" specimen for examination. 
 
 "If we didn't have the program, we wouldn't have been able to secure and get this animal and be able to necropsy such a fresh animal," he said. ||||| In this photo taken on Nov. 29, 2014, provided by San Juan Orcas, Puget Sound orcas known as the J-pod swim together in Spieden Channel, north of San Juan Island. The death of an endangered Puget Sound... (Associated Press) 
 
 In this photo taken on Nov. 29, 2014, provided by San Juan Orcas, Puget Sound orcas known as the J-pod swim together in Spieden Channel, north of San Juan Island. The death of an endangered Puget Sound... (Associated Press) 
 
 COURTENAY, British Columbia (AP) — The necropsy on the endangered orca found dead off Vancouver Island showed it was pregnant with a full-term fetus, and that someone removed several teeth from the dead killer whale before it could be examined. 
 
 Experts had speculated the death may have arisen from birth complications. Biologists have yet to determine the cause of death. 
 
 The Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans also said someone removed several teeth. 
 
 "It looks like they broke off a couple, and there were a number that were sawed off, and those were cut off right to the gum," said Paul Cottrell, the agency's Pacific marine mammals coordinator. 
 
 It's illegal to possess part of an endangered animal. 
 
 "It's just a senseless, illegal act," Cottrell said. "We take this kind of thing seriously. We don't want endangered species parts being traded or sold." 
 
 The orca known as J-32 was found floating in the water Thursday near Courtenay. It was moved to a boat launch Friday for the necropsy, which took place Saturday. 
 
 The death leaves 77 animals in the Puget Sound orca population, which was listed as endangered in 2005. 
 
 "The fetus was decomposing," said Ken Balcomb, a scientist with the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor, assisted in the necropsy. "The tests will be able to tell whether the fetus was already dead before the mother died, and therefore may have been the cause of her death." 
 
 Tissue samples from the orca and the fetus will be examined at a number of labs across North America, Cottrell said. Results are expected in four to six weeks. 
 
 "Hopefully there will be enough evidence in tissue and fetus to understand what's going wrong," Balcomb said. 
 
 He said he does not think it's a natural birthing issue because "we know that the levels of toxins that are in these whales are harmful to reproductive status." 
 
 There hasn't been a successful birth in the population for 2 ½ years, Balcomb said. 
 
 The orca looked healthy but its blubber level was thinner than usual, indicating that it had poor nutrition for some time, Balcomb said. 
 
 "What we do know is that if we could provide a food supply that's abundant and healthy, they wouldn't have to rely on their blubber storage for energy," he said. ||||| ... 
 
 ent killer whales, researchers confirmed. The calf was born to L77, said Ken Balcomb, founding director of the Center for Whale Research. He confirmed the birth in a text to The Seattle Times Friday. He estimated the calf is several weeks old. 
 
 A new calf has been born to the critically endangered southern resid
– That an endangered orca was found dead on the eastern side of Vancouver Island Thursday was itself gloomy news: Named J-32 and nicknamed Rhapsody, it was part of a population that had only 78 members, and thought to be one of only 18 able to reproduce. But the completed necropsy dealt two additional blows: First, the orca was pregnant. "When you have 78 animals and you lose an animal ... that has the potential to contribute for decades—that's a huge loss to this population," says Paul Cottrell of the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans. The fetus was full term, and while results from tests to be performed on tissue samples won't be available for at least a month, KING 5 News reports the leading theory is that the calf may have actually spurred the mother's death. The theory posted to Facebook last night by the Victoria Marine Science Association: that the calf died and caused an infection that ultimately killed, or had a hand in the death of, its mother. KING 5 News notes that a calf birthed by an orca in the J, K, or L pod hasn't survived longer than a year in the last three years. The second blow: Between Friday evening, when the carcass was placed on a boat launch, and Saturday morning, in advance of the scheduled necropsy, a number of its teeth were removed, some sawed off "right to the gum," Cottrell tells the Canadian Press. He notes that Rhapsody's jaw and teeth were otherwise "in great shape and solid." The department is investigating. The Puget Sound orca population was listed as endangered in 2005, notes the AP. (California whale watchers recently saw a group of orcas attack a mother whale and her baby.)