🔎 Mystery orcas stump scientists

Everything We Know About the Mystery Orcas

Earlier this month, a 1,000-person group chat that follows Salish wildlife, with a special focus on orcas, started lighting up with messages: an unknown trio of orcas was swimming around Coleman ferry dock in Elliott Bay. The whales weren’t just a mystery to the WhatsApp group; they also were stumping scientists. Researchers have photographic catalogs of essentially all the orcas of the Pacific Northwest, but this trio hadn’t been documented! So who are they? [KUOW]

• Cookie-Cutter Shark Bites: All three of the orcas, a female and two younger males, had unusual, circular scars. These scars are from the bites of small, cookie-cutter sharks. These creatures are nightmare fuel (truly, look up photos at your own risk) and live in deep, open ocean, typically south of Hawaii. The shark creates these round scars by latching onto orcas or other prey and then spinning its body to remove a cookie-cutter section of flesh 😱. So, the orcas likely hailed from cookie-cutter shark waters.
• First Spotted in Alaska: Prior to coming to Seattle, the orca trio spent four days in a busy harbor in Vancouver, where they were equally mysterious to Canadian scientists. When word spread about their presence, they were connected to a trio of mystery orcas spotted once, a year ago, about five miles from Anchorage. Orcas are rare near Anchorage, and this trio had never been documented before, nor were they seen again until they showed up in Vancouver a year later.
• Some Mystery Remains: Scientists still don’t know which population of killer whales the trio belongs to. Bay Cetology, a whale-research organization based in Alert Bay, British Columbia, has given them numbers: T419, T420, and T421. But, California-based researchers with the Oceanic Research Alliance have given them different numbers: OCX085, OCX086, and OCX087 (OC meaning outer coast). Scientists still don’t know why these orcas have decided to become city slickers.

🧑🏻‍⚖️ Rising public defense costs: Criminal defendants have a constitutional right to legal representation, even if they can't afford an attorney – and Washington counties pay the majority of the cost to provide those attorneys. The Washington State Association of Counties is now warning of a budget crisis as these costs continue to rise. Last year, the state Supreme Court ordered public defenders to sharply reduce their caseloads. Meeting these new standards is estimated to triple public defense costs statewide. [Axios Seattle]

🚨 King County leads in immigration arrests: The UW Center for Human Rights (UWCHR) released a new report showing a “powerful surge” in immigration enforcement from October to December of 2025. King County saw more than 1,000 people taken in by ICE – about 44% of arrests statewide, and the most total arrests of any county in the state. [The Urbanist]

⛏️ Man smashes Chihuly sculptures: On Monday night, a 40-year-old man broke into and smashed glass plant sculptures in the outdoor section of the garden. Police arrested the man and estimated he caused $240,000 in damage. The Instagram account Street Photojournalism shared footage of police jogging to the scene, where police said the man was attempting to stab a security guard with the broken glass. A spokesperson told KIRO newsradio, “We expect to replace the damaged art in the coming weeks.” [My Northwest]