A juvenile gray whale that swam 20 miles up a Washington state river has been found dead, possibly due to hunger. The whale was discovered near Raymond, Washington, in the Willapa River, which feeds into Willapa Bay. The population of gray whales in the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean has been experiencing a decline since 2019 due to reduced food availability in the northern Bering and Chukchi seas off Alaska's coast. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries agency declared an unusual mortality event for eastern gray whales from late 2018 to late 2023, involving 690 gray whale strandings from Alaska to Mexico. The agency estimated about 13,000 gray whales, the lowest count since the 1970s.