The orca that washed ashore on a West Marin beach recently had been seen swimming off the coast of Vancouver Island in September. Through visual identification of the whale's unique physical markings, the orca was identified as orca No. 0319 by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans in Nanaimo, British Columbia.

The information would support a theory that the young male orca was foraging south and following a food source, likely Pacific sleeper sharks. Tissue samples were taken from the whale, but results as to a cause of death are months off, it was about 18 feet long and washed up in an isolated area along Driftwood Beach, just north of McClure's Beach, California.

Marine Connection's Margaux Dodds comments "This is yet another example of the great distances marine mammals travel in the world's oceans, something that no captive facility, no matter how large, can replicate. These top predators need the variety and vastness of the open ocean - that is where they belong, enjoying the freedom to travel for as long, and as far, as they desire. Seeing examples such as this, is helpful to build a picture of the animals' life but it is always distressing to find an animal from an identifiable pod washed up on shore and we await the results as to the cause of death with interest."

The Department of Fisheries and Oceans in Nanaimo also identified the orca as an "offshore species ". The whales are either offshore, transient or resident but all three are found in the waters off the West Coast. While they do not migrate, they do forage widely for food. Not as much is known about the offshore whales so the post mortem carried out on the animal may shed some information.