ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- The youngest of three killer whales that swam up a river in southwest Alaska may still be alive although the older two have been found dead, authorities said.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service confirmed the two adult whales had died in the Nushagak River, most likely from the stress of being in fresh water outside their usual ocean habitat, the Anchorage Daily News reported Sunday.
The juvenile whale was last seen late Saturday in a downriver saltwater tidal basin and a search was being conducted, Julie Speegle, a spokeswoman for the National Marine Fisheries Service, said.
The fisheries service said killer whales are common in the Nushagak's tidal waters in the fall but this was the first time any had traveled so far upriver and the first time they stayed for so long in fresh water.
