Two southern resident killer whales are still sick and emaciated, and there hasn't been any aid from the US for the last 35 days.
During the Government shutdown, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, wasn't operating, which Martin Haulena, Head Veterinarian with the Vancouver Aquarium, says the created some challenges with monitoring and treating the whales.
"With the government shutdown we are missing a lot of resources, that especially the federal US government could provide to this sort of effort, and most importantly permission to go ahead and do that. So there's no ability to get new permits to do new sorts of sampling or to provide medicine, that sort of thing."
Although support from the US was blocked, Haulena says they reassembled the Veterinarian Task Force that dealt with J-50 last summer, and they were able to form a sort of response team. They used the permits that they had acquired earlier and were able to go out and collect some stool and blowhole samples, which they sent to be analyzed at a few facilities, including Seaworld.
He says it's hard to track the Orcas during the winter months, but a group of researchers has been out trying to monitor the whales.
"It looks like K-25, the male, has stabilized to a certain extent, based on photos from the last few weeks. But J-17 appears to still be in decline."
He says that doesn't bode well for the population, as J-17 has a young calf, about 3 or 4 years old, that is still reliant on her mother. Haulena says if J-17 dies, then it's not likely her calf will survive.
However, the shutdown has temporarily ended now, and Haulena is optimistic, as new support and permits can now be obtained to help the dwindling southern resident population.