DFO investigating dead porpoise found near Victoria

Authorities are investigating Wednesday after the body of a porpoise was discovered on a beach near Victoria.

The discovery at Esquimalt Lagoon in Colwood, B.C., was first reported to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) as a beached killer whale. But fisheries officers on scene determined it was actually the body of a Dall's porpoise, a species commonly found off the West Coast.

"We don't see them a whole lot in this area, especially inshore here," said Willi Jansen, an officer with the DFO's whale protection unit out of Victoria.

While the animal appeared to have some lacerations on its body, the DFO says it's too early to determine the cause of death.

The porpoise was loaded into a DFO truck Wednesday afternoon with the help of some beachgoers, and will be transported to a provincial lab in the Vancouver area.

"It will go back into our freezer and then be taken over to the Lower Mainland to the vet there to do a full necropsy to figure out how it died," said Jansen.

She estimated the animal weighed approximately 300 to 400 pounds.

"It was too big even for the body bag that we had so we put it on a stretcher and carried it up with the help of the public, which was much appreciated," Jansen told CTV News.

The DFO asks the public to report similar discoveries to its fisheries hotline at 1-800-465-4336.