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The juvenile Bryde’s whale was found dead Thursday in Port McNeill Bay, far from his normal range. VIA MARINE EDUCATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY

The rare Bryde’s whale that washed ashore in Port McNeill Bay this week will be a feature display in the new Whale Interpretive Centre being rebuilt in Telegraph Cove.

Jim Borrowman, who has operated the museum for more than two decades, confirmed the Bryde’s whale was gifted by the ‘Namgis First Nation. The museum is currently rebuilding after a devastating fire last New Year’s Eve and Borrowman said the whale’s skeletal remains will signal a significant “rebirth” of the museum in 2026.

“We have been blown away from the ‘Namgis and the people of Alert Bay who have gone out of their way to make this happen,” said Borrowman.

“It’s kind of a new beginning for us.”

The juvenile Bryde’s whale was found dead Thursday in Port McNeill Bay, far from his normal range. Bryde’s whales (pronounced BROO-dus) are a type of baleen whale, spanning the globe in tropical and subtropical waters, and rarely seen in waters north of latitude 35° north.

Fisheries and Oceans Canada said the Bryde’s whale was the only one ever to be seen in Canadian waters.

Starting over, the Bryde’s whale will be a centrepiece at the museum, said Borrowman.

“The Bryde’s whale is extremely rare and the only one ever known to be here, so it’s very special to have this whale be part of the new museum.”

Borrowman spent years collecting the specimens that were on display at the centre, which began in 2002 and housed skeletons of a resident killer whale, Bigg’s killer whale, humpback whale, minke whale, grey whale, a 20-metre fin whale and an extremely rare Cuvier’s beaked whale.

All were lost to the fire.

Luckily, three of the centre’s skeletons — a Risso’s dolphin, a Dall’s porpoise and a pygmy sperm whale — were all either on loan or being re-articulated elsewhere when the fire razed the waterfront.

Mary Borrowman, Jim’s wife and partner in the whale interpretive centre, added: “We are so thankful to the ‘Namgis First Nation and that Chief Victor Isaac and Hereditary Chief Ernest Alfred are passionate about what we do, and feel that this is a good home for their whale so that it can be used for educational purposes for years to come.”

Borrowman said Mike deRoos, who owns Salt Spring Island-based Cetacean Contracting, will start dismembering the dead whale on Saturday. The company specializes in cleaning and articulating marine mammal skeletons and has done many of the specimens in the Telegraph Cove museum.

“They will take all the bones apart and package them up and tarp them and take them back to Salt Spring,” said Borrowman. “We’ve done this kind of thing for years and it’s quite a process to take every rib off the vertebrae and separate everything.

“It can be quite a process as you can imagine what it’s like to take an animal of this size apart,” said Borrowman.

A provincial wildlife veterinarian completed a necropsy on the Bryde’s whale on Friday, after the ‘Namgis First Nation held a ceremony to honour the deceased whale.

The necropsy results won’t be finalized for some time. It wasn’t immediately known how the whale died.

Borrowman, who was on the site, said initial inspection of the body after the necropsy samples were taken revealed that it was a younger male whale that appeared “very healthy and who had been alive just a few days before, because the inside of the body was still quite warm.”

Borrowman said all of the bones of the whale will be stripped on the beach and taken to the deRoos property on Salt Spring Island to be cleaned and eventually dried. Borrowman said part of the process might involve burying the bones in a combination of soil and horse manure to speed the decomposition process.

“It will be mostly cleaned up over the next few months,” he said. “I don’t think this animal will take more than two or three months to be put together.”

Bryde’s whales are considered one of the great whales, or rorquals, a group that also includes blue and humpback whales, according to NOAA, the U.S. federal ocean agency.

Bryde’s whales can grow to 55 feet long and weigh up to 90,000 pounds. The head of the whale makes up about one quarter of its entire body length.

Rebuilding the historic boardwalk at Telegraph Cove is well underway after the New Year’s Eve fire.

Several buildings are expected to be completed in time for the ­summer season. The Whale Interpretive Centre, pub and restaurant buildings will follow, but might not be completed or fully operational until spring or summer of 2026. The centre plans to have a tent and interpretive displays on the wharf this summer.

The fire destroyed the whale centre, Old Saltery Pub, Killer Whale Café, Wastell Manor heritage house, Prince of Whales offices and staff housing and a portion of the boardwalk.

About a third of the massive pier that supported the buildings and made the resort such a popular place was destroyed by the blaze.

The cause of the fire hasn’t been determined, but it was thought to be electrical wiring compromised by rodents.