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This article originally appeared in the State of Washington Bat Conservation Plan. Further information is available from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.
A new paper by Puget Sound area scientists from the SeaDoc Society and their collaborators represents the most complete summary to date of killer whale (Orcinus orca) strandings in the North Pacific. The authors analyzed stranding records dating back to 1925, obtained from scientists worldwide, finding that very few whales are stranded (an average of ten a year over the last twenty years). However, most of those strandings result in death. Only 12% of stranded whales survive.
Necropsy of stranded whales can provide important information about life history, health, genetics, and causes of death, but few of the stranded carcasses
This 2004 report looks at the status of Washington's four killer whale populations.
A master's thesis prepared at Western Washington University discusses the impact of harbor seals on fish stocks in the San Juan Islands, where the seals are a year-round predator.
The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife recently released a Bat Conservation Plan for the 15 species of bats found in Washington State. All but four of these species occur within the greater Puget Sound watershed1, including:
Big Brown Bat (Eptesicus fuscus), California Myotis (Myotis californicus), Fringed Myotis (Myotis thysanodes), Hoary Bat (Lasiurus cinereus), Keen’s Myotis (Myotis keenii), Little Brown Myotis (Myotis lucifugus), Long-legged Myotis (Myotis volans), Silver-haired Bat (Lasionycteris noctivagans), Townsend’s Big-eared Bat (Corynorhinus townsendii), Western Long-eared Myotis (