COURTENAY, B.C. — The Department of Fisheries and Oceans is investigating after someone removed teeth from a dead killer whale on Vancouver Island.
The orca, which has been labelled J-32, was reported floating near Courtenay and Comox on Thursday and a necropsy was performed Saturday.
Paul Cottrell, the Pacific marine mammals co-ordinator for Fisheries and Oceans, says it appears someone used a saw to remove a number of teeth between Friday night and Saturday morning.
Cottrell says it's illegal to possess anything from an endangered or at-risk species, and he says investigators are following up on a number of leads.
The necropsy revealed the whale was pregnant with a full-term fetus, though the cause of death hasn't been determined.
Cottrell says the whale skeleton will eventually be donated to the B.C. Royal Museum.
