Community Corner
Gray Whale Trapped In Bouy Net Near Channel Islands
Crews worked to free the creature, but efforts have been hampered by its skittishness. Two whales washed up on LA beaches over the last week
LOS ANGELES, CA — Rescue crews spent the day Monday trying to save a gray whale caught in a buoy net near Channel Islands Harbor, but they were hampered by the skittish whale.
According to the U.S. Coast Guard, the whale was first spotted Sunday afternoon by passengers aboard a boat, Petty Officer Davonte Marrow. The whale is an estimated 20-feet long. As rescue workers in a boat tried to get close to the mammal, it repeatedly swam away, according to a Coast Guard spokesman.
“Every time we tried to get close to it, the whale would get scared and dive underwater, taking the buoy with it,” U.S. Coast Guard Spokesman Mark Barney told the Los Angeles Times.
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Because of the giant creature’s skittishness, rescuers have been unable to tell if it is injured or in dire straits.
It’s been a difficult week for gray whales off the Southern California coastline. On Sunday morning, a large, dead gray whale washed ashore in the County Line Beach area in Malibu Sunday morning. Officials are awaiting a necropsy to determine the whale’s cause of death. Another gray whale carcass washed ashore in Hermosa around the same time a small whale got disoriented and ended up in the harbor in Marina Del Rey.
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Coast Guard and marine animal rescue officials have not identified a link between the incidents.
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