Young Writers Society

Whales lost in Calif. river making progress again toward Pacific



By Marcus Wohlsen
ASSOCIATED PRESS
11:42 a.m. May 29, 2007
VALLEJO – Two whales lost between the Sacramento River and San Francisco Bay moved several miles closer to the Pacific on Tuesday, passing under the third of five bridges standing between the pair and their ocean home.
The two whales swam beneath the Carquinez Bridge and into San Pablo Bay, less than 35 miles from the Pacific, a day after halting at another busy bridge several miles to the east. They were first spotted May 13 and got as far as 90 miles inland to the Port of Sacramento before turning around.

Two whales meandering in a California river made a little more progress toward the ocean before stopping once again, this time near the Carquinez Bridge.

Biologists said the saltier water where the mother humpback whale and her calf have been circling has helped reverse some of the health problems caused by long exposure to fresh water.

Lesions that had formed on the humpbacks' skin over the weekend appeared to be sloughing off, California Department of Fish and Game deputy director Bernadette Fees said. Scientists also reported that a coating of algae that was clinging to the mother farther upriver had fallen away.

Veterinarians did not get a good glimpse Monday of wounds that had been suffered by both whales and could not say whether those had started to heal, Fees said. Antibiotics were injected into the whales on Saturday to try to slow the damage from the gashes, likely from a boat's keel.

Memorial Day sightseers swarmed the waterfront to catch a glimpse Monday, while the U.S. Coast Guard worked to maintain a 500-yard safety zone around the whales.

About 100 boats carrying would-be whale watchers surrounded the pair as news of their location traveled. Coast Guard crews hauled several swimmers out of the water as they tried to approach the whales, Lt. Larry Curran said.

Despite the pair's health problems, officials did not plan to take any action to prod them toward the Golden Gate Bridge.

Rescue boats blocked the entrance to the Napa River, which the whales passed Tuesday morning, and also would position themselves at the mouth of the Petaluma River north of San Francisco Bay, Fees said.

“It's all up to the whales at the end of the day,” said Jim Oswald, spokesman for the Marine Mammal Center, a nonprofit wildlife group helping coordinate the rescue.