3 months, 21 dead gray whales: Why so many carcasses are washing up on Pacific shores

Dead, emaciated gray whales have been washing up on Washington state shores at a shocking pace over the last few months.

Dead, emaciated gray whales have been washing up on Washington state shores at a shocking pace over the last few months. Since March, 21 whales have turned up dead along the shoreline, according to research biologist John Calambokidis.

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“I am alarmed,” he said.

Calambokidis, the founder of the Cascadia Research Collective, has studied gray whales for decades. The species had come to represent one of the most impressive conservation turnarounds in history — until recently. Over the last seven years, he said, gray whale populations have suffered a “precipitous decline.”