Dead whale found in estuary near Jack London Square.
Passing cyclists, fishermen and construction workers coped with the aroma as best they could Friday morning, but the estuary air near Jack London Square was decidedly pungent. Birds perched on the massive, dark carcass of the whale that wedged itself between pylons of a bridge, and observers remarked on the sadness of the noble beast’s death as they waited for it to be towed to Angel Island for inspections.
The whale may have been carried into San Francisco Bay on the bow of a freighter, said officials, who have still not determined the animal’s species or cause of death.
A freighter entered San Francisco Bay on Wednesday with a whale carcass attached to its bow, said Laura Sherr, a spokeswoman for the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito. The whale later became detached from the vessel and biologists on Friday were trying to determine if it was the same animal. Tom Horton, who rows with the East Bay Rowing Club, said he spotted the whale around 5: 30 a. m. when he was out on the river.
“We row every morning and we see a lot of marine life,” said Horton, who has been rowing in this
“At first I thought it was part of the construction site nearby. Then I realized I found a dead whale.”
Tom Horton, East Bay Rowing Club, spotted the whale at 5: 30 a. m.
spot for 10 years. “We’ve seen sharks and seals and birds, but we’ve never seen a whale.”
He called the Marine Mammal Center and waited for officials to arrive.
Sylvester Silva, who fishes near the site with his father about three times a week, was preparing to cast his lines into the estuary when he spotted the whale. He said it was “kind of interesting, but really sad.”
Like others, he wondered how the whale had ended up in such shallow waters.
“At first I thought it was part of the construction site nearby,” Horton said. “Then I realized I found a dead whale.”
Devoted whale watchers Elizabeth Heppenstall and Evan Schloss of Oakland said they sped over to the bridge when they heard there was a whale underneath it. The two live nearby and frequently come to the water’s edge. The day prior, Heppenstall had just been whale- watching near Lands End.
“I never thought we’d see one so close to here,” she said.
“It’s pretty sad,” Schloss added.
Sherr said the Marine Mammal Center was helping the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and U. S. Army Corps of Engineers to tow the whale carcass to Angel Island, where biologists will conduct a necropsy to determine if the animal died from a collision with a vessel, entanglement with fishing equipment, or perhaps disease or old age.