The Atlantic Veterinary College (AVC), Marine Animal Response Society (MARS), Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and Parks Canada have partnered to conduct an examination on the remains of a beluga whale discovered on P.E.I’s Tracadie Beach. The investigation seeks to ascertain cause of death and will include a necropsy and genetic testing.

“Sometimes, if they’re not familiar with the coastline, they don’t necessarily know how the tides work around here and they might just accidentally strand,” AVC wildlife pathologist Laura Bourque explained in conversation with CBC. “At this time, there’s no evidence that there’s trauma or entanglement in fishing gear involved.”

Officials suspect that the beluga might have originated from an endangered population residing in the St. Lawrence Estuary—which spans from the eastern tip of Île d’Orléans downstream of Quebec City to the Atlantic Ocean, encompassing the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

“Occasionally they come wandering down to our neck of the woods and that’s when we do occasionally get strandings,” Bourque says.