In an unusual spate of gray whale deaths, yet another animal has been found washed up around the San Francisco Bay, this time at Muir Beach on Thursday morning.
April marks the start of gray whales’ northern migration, and so finding dead whales on the shores of the Bay is not unheard of, but four in nine days is an anomaly.
2019 also saw a rise in dead gray whales around the San Francisco water, though half of those animals’ causes of death were ruled malnutrition, a cause that hasn’t been yet been concluded for any of the four whales this week.
Human interaction, usually the form of ship strike or entanglement, is a frequent cause of whale death, though only one of the four this week has been ruled dead from that trauma.
The deaths have meant the Marine Mammal Center is facing one of its busiest times while prioritizing human health and safety because of COVID-19.
