Dead gray whales in Washington

Officials are responding to a dead gray whale found beached on the west side of Camano Island. The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration Fisheries West Coast Region posted about the massive stranded mammal, saying a necropsy would be performed.

Every spring, gray whales migrate up the West Coast on a 12,000-mile round-trip from Mexico to the Alaskan Arctic. A small group has begun detouring to Puget Sound every year in what seems to be a survival strategy.

More than 30 gray whales have washed ashore in Washington state this year. But that’s only a fraction of the number of stranded whales seen along the West…