Two months after a 3-year-old endangered orca washed ashore bloodied and bruised in Washington state, the cause of its death remains a mystery.

Marine experts believe the female orca, known as L-112, died of massive blunt force trauma, but they’re still examining evidence and waiting for tests of tissue samples to determine what caused that trauma. Some orca experts, however, suspect the injuries are linked to an underwater explosion or military training activity at sea.

Law enforcement officers with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration last week began looking into the orca’s death and are seeking information from the U.S. Navy and other sources about their activities as part of its investigation, said NOAA spokesman Brian Gorman. “So far, there haven’t been any red flags,” he said.

The Navy said that it wasn’t conducting activity off the coast in the weeks before Feb. 11, when the orca’s 12-foot long carcass was discovered in Long Beach.

The young female orca was a member of the L pod, one of three groups of federally-protected orcas that frequent Puget Sound, whose population now stands at 86. Orcas, also popularly called “killer whales” are members of the dolphin family. Read More