New Orca Calf Descends From the Last Whales Captured in US Waters

On March 20, 2025, whale-watch crews in the eastern Strait of Juan de Fuca spotted a newborn orca swimming beside its mother in a group of more than a dozen killer whales. The calf was seen again several times over the following weekend, according to the Pacific Whale Watch Association, the region’s whale-watching industry group.¹

The calf’s official designation is T046B3A, which has all the warmth of a license plate. It is a Bigg’s orca, one of the killer whales that hunt seals and other marine mammals instead of fish. Its mother, Sedna (T046B3), is 14, and this is her first known calf.¹²

What makes this birth stand out is the family it joins. Sedna’s grandmother, a whale called Wake (T046), was one of six orcas captured and briefly held by SeaWorld in Budd Inlet, Washington, in 1976. They were the last killer whales captured in US waters, and they were released.¹⁵

Photos of the newborn show it is very young. “In the images, you can still see fetal folds, along with distinctive orange coloration,” Erin Gless, the association’s executive director, said in its announcement. “These factors are normal and indicate the calf is quite young, likely a week or two at most.”¹

A capture within sight of the capitol

On March 7, 1976, a SeaWorld crew trapped a pod of Bigg’s orcas in Budd Inlet, in view of the state capitol in Olympia.³⁴ An estimated 100 killer whales were taken from the Pacific during the 1970s, and Budd Inlet was the last capture in that series.⁵

Ralph Munro, then an assistant to Governor Dan Evans, watched the capture while sailing and was appalled. He helped file a lawsuit against SeaWorld that led to the whales’ release.¹² On March 23, 1976, SeaWorld agreed to stop capturing orcas in Washington state.³

The six whales, now known as the Budd Inlet Six, carry the designations T13, T14, T26, T27, T46 and T47.⁴

A family tree that keeps growing

By the association’s count, Wake has eight assumed calves, 16 grand-calves and six great-grand-calves.¹⁵ Those relationships are assumed, the numbers shift as whales are born and die, and other tallies differ. A Travel San Juan post, for example, lists 14 grand-calves.⁸

The association credits Munro directly. “Without the direct efforts of Ralph Munro, at least 30 Bigg’s killer whales would have never been born,” it said in its release. That figure is the group’s own estimate, not an independent calculation.¹

The association says more than 140 Bigg’s calves have been born in the last decade, and it cites Bay Cetology’s count of nearly 400 coastal Bigg’s orcas.¹ The Victoria Times Colonist reports Bay Cetology’s estimate as about 380 in coastal British Columbia and Washington waters.⁶ The region’s salmon-eating Southern Resident orcas are a different story: they are endangered and number about 73.¹

A name with meaning

Munro went on to serve five terms as Washington’s Secretary of State. His death at 81 was announced on March 20, 2025, the same day the calf was first seen.¹²³

Regional naturalists, educators and researchers later voted to name the calf “Munro,” honoring his role in ending live orca captures in Washington.⁴⁸