Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission

Image from nwifc on flickr.

The Squaxin Island Tribe invited visitors out to see the processing the remains of a dead Bryde’s whale last week. Both King 5 and the Seattle Times were on hand.

From the Seattle Times:

Here on this inlet in far South Sound, a visitor recently arrived from distant waters, and the Squaxin Island tribe did what their ancestors taught them: They welcomed an honored guest.

That the visitor was a dead whale made it the more important; that it was a Bryde’s whale, never before documented in these waters, clinched it.

“We felt very sure it was a gift from the Creator,” said David Lopeman, Squaxin tribal chairman. “And we were going to treat it right.”

King 5 produced this video on the whale:

More background on the stranding of the rare tropical whale can be found at Cascadia Research.