Crews tow 40-foot whale found dead off Bay Area coast for examination

MARIN COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) -- The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on Monday towed a 40-foot long gray whale to the shores at Angel Island so it can be examined by biologists. The whale washed up near Crown Beach in Alameda over the weekend.

"I noticed when I was out on bay farm island, I could see something that was sticking up," said John Zenner, Alameda resident. "It is really shallow there so I knew it wasn't going to blow on shore and it drifted off with the high tide last night."

The corps of engineers located it Monday morning and began towing it to the island. The Marine Mammal Center says the whale was an adult female. It is not the same as the other gray whale that is lost after being entangled. Scientists who study whales say their migration is changing. These whales are staying longer off the coast of the Bay Area.

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"We have this really rich flowing ecosystem," said Cotton Rockwood, a senior marine ecologist at Point Blue, a conservation group in California. "There are lots of krill and resources. They go where their food is."

Over the years, Rockwood says the population of gray whales has recovered. However, he says with more whales, there are higher chances of them getting injured. He says the longer they stay off the shore, the more likely they are to get entangled or hit by container ships.

"There is a lot more ship traffic and ships are traveling faster than they ever," Rockwood said. "The combination of all of these things means there has been a steady increase in ship strikes."

The official cause of death for this whale is still unknown. The Marine Mammal Center says they will know it in the coming days after they can examine it.

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