Mom and baby Orca doing well off B.C. coast as population rebounding

SOOKE, B.C. – Scientists say a fifth baby has joined an endangered population of killer whales off British Columbia's coast.

The newest calf in the L pod was spotted frolicking with its mother yesterday near Sooke.

The Washington state-based Center for Whale Research says the baby dubbed L122 is the newest member of the pod since last December.

It says the calf was photographed from a research vessel and measured using a drone that was already doing work on southern resident killer whales.

That population is made up of three pods — J, K and L.

The center's senior scientist Ken Balcomb says only 35 of the 122 southern resident whales born in the area in the last 40 years are still alive.