Wednesday, May 23, 2007

 

Whales, Go Home

The Valley has had some of it's biggest visitors ever over the past few weeks. Garnering national publicity, huge crowds, and constant local news coverage, the visitors have caused a sensation in the delta region between West Sacramento and Rio Vista.

Delta, a mother humpback whale, and Dawn, her calf, strayed last week into the San Francisco Bay and into the Delta, ending up in the turning basin of the Port of Sacramento, 90 miles from the Golden Gate. Since that event, biologists from all over the west coast have tried to lend their expertise in turning the whales around. Although efforts were made to aggitate the whales enough to send them back down the deep water channel, the whales would not leave West Sacramento. That is, until Sunday, when they began to swim south on their own.

Followed by a group of boats, including a Coast Guard cutter, the whales went south into the night, stopping only when they got to the Rio Vista bridge. Since that progress, Delta and Dawn have again stopped, staying in the area of Rio Vista. The whales continue to circle the area, which is in the delta region. The water the whales are currently in does not have the salt content, the cold water temperature, or food available to sustain the whales, and time is a factor in getting the whales back to where they belong.

The whales face several obstacles, including marks that indicate they may have been injured by boat propellers. Whale helpers also have been hindered, ironically, in some ways by the laws protecting the endangered animals. Each new tactic, including playing sounds, banging pipes on to the water to annoy them, and even tagging Delta for tracking, all have had to be approved. The tags were not able to be applied due to high winds in the region, as of Monday. This has resulted in a search each morning by Coast Guard, scientific observers, and media to find the whales in order to decide what to do to encourage the whales towards swimming out to sea.

Tens of thousands of whale well-wishers lined the levees when the whales visited West Sacramento, many with a desire to see the mammals go home. It is nice to see that Delta and Dawn do seem to be moving closer to where they need to go. The whales on Tuesday were seen looping through Cache Slough north of Rio Vista. Such an amazing, unique site to see for Valley dwellers is exhilarating and captivating, but the time has come for our whales to go back to where they will be free and healthy. Thanks for visiting, now, go home.

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Where will Kobe go?
 
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