Giant whales found piled up dead on west coast beach — Second largest animals on planet — Official: “It’s never happened… Extremely unusual… Very rare and odd… We want to know why” — Gov’t scientists testing for Fukushima radiation — Backlog at lab due to so many recent deaths (PHOTOS)

CKNW News Talk 980, Nov 18, 2015 (emphasis added): The Department of Fisheries and Oceans is looking into the death of three fin whales near Bella Bella on BC’s central coast… Paul Cottrel with the DFO says a multiple death like this is extremely unusual. “We just get one or two a year, and usually never in the same area like this, or on the same beach which is even more rare. So that’s why it’s definitely a very unique situation.” He says all three whales were juvenile males, two of them likely younger than two-years-old… He says there were no bite marks on the carcasses, or any signs of boat strike either. Cottrel says the DFO conducted a necropsy, but found no obvious cause of death.

Increase in whale deaths in the Gulf of Alaska

Over the past four months, 33 large whales have been reported dead in the Western Gulf of Alaska, which encompasses the areas around Kodiak Island, Afognak Island, Chirikof Island, the Semidi Islands and the southern shoreline of the Alaska Peninsula. The significant die-off of whales has been declared an Unusual Mortality Event (UME) by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), marking the first large whale UME ever in Alaska.