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May 30, 2007
Whales may have slipped into ocean before dawn
BERKELEY, California (AP) -- Two lost whales seen just before sunset nearing the ocean after a two-week sojourn through inland California waterways may have slipped back into the Pacific overnight.Rescuers launched several boats in an effort to find the mother humpback and her calf Wednesday morning but have not spotted the whales, said Bernadette Fees, deputy director of the California Department of Fish and Game.
The pair were last seen Tuesday less than 10 miles from the Golden Gate bridge after they passed under another busy bridge and entered San Francisco Bay.
The whales passed under the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge on Tuesday afternoon, the last bridge along the pair's route before reaching the Golden Gate.
If the humpbacks were able navigate south around a Marin County peninsula and a nearby island, few obstacles were left on their route past Alcatraz to the Pacific Ocean.
Still, officials feared that the whales might continue south instead of west, passing under the Bay Bridge into the long southern half of the bay.
"There are lots of places they could get themselves into trouble before they go out of the Golden Gate," McInnis said.
Hopefully they slipped out into the Pacifc, instead of heading further south in the Bay. At some point they were also given doses of antibiotics, which should help with the infections they are dealing with. Time will tell whether they're in the ocean of further down the Bay.
Found via CNN.
Posted by Dianne at May 30, 2007 1:50 PM
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