39 Ft. Gray whale washes up Face Rock Overlook, Ore. *Video*

KGW.com Staff

December 27, 2011

A juvenile gray whale washed up on the beach by Face Rock Overlook near Bandon on Christmas Day.

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists said the whale was about 20 feet long and started to decompose before washing ashore.

Parks officials said they would decide how to remove the animal.

krem.com

Dead Bandon whale may be calf from Calif.

December 27, 2011

…Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists said the whale was about 20 feet long and started to decompose before washing ashore.

Back in August of this year, a 45-foot gray whale and her calf got stranded in the Klamath River in California, near the Oregon border. The adult whale eventually got stuck on a sandbar and died.

As first reported by KRCR-TV, a team from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association had tried to rescue the female whale and urge her to swim back to the Pacific Ocean, to no avail. The dead whale was eventually buried by the Yurok Tribe in California.

Her calf was only about 15-feet long at the time and was last seen swimming back to sea, about a month before its mother died. Now …

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Dead whale on Bandon beach causing a stink

By Brie Thiele, KCBY News

Story Published: Dec 28, 2011

BANDON, Ore. – The start of winter whale watch week got off to an ironic start as wildlife enthusiasts had to go no farther than Face Rock Beach in Bandon to get an up close and personal glimpse of the majestic creatures.

On Christmas day, a 40 foot gray whale washed ashore.

Wildlife biologists tell KCBY, nobody knows what happened to the whale because it was already badly decomposed when it was found on the beach. So much so, that they were unable to do a necropsy on the animal to find a cause of death.

They pointed out the bite mark on the whale’s tail, that was most likely from a shark, but they believe the bite occurred after the whale died.

They say, the death is unusual because the mammal is neither old nor young, and seems to be between six and eight years old.

We’re told in their natural habitat, whale calves and older whales are more susceptible to death. Video.

Wednesday, park rangers with Bullards Beach State Park were busy burying the huge animal. The whale carcass was starting smell, making it unpleasant for the people who live nearby.

Biologists say, burying the animal, is a common way to get it out of the way. Logistically, they say it’s difficult to haul such a large creature back out to sea, and burying it will allow for creatures in the sand to feed on the animal, and allow it to further decompose. But in some …

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Klamath whale likely died from a fungal skin infection; dead gray whale in Bandon, Ore,. not calf who left river

Megan Hansen/Times-Standard

12/29/2011

“MaMa,” the gray whale that delighted throngs of motorists and tourists at the Klamath River over the summer, died of a fungal skin infection, scientists said Wednesday.

The news came amid reports that a gray whale washed ashore in Bandon, Ore., on Sunday could be her calf. Oregon state officials said that turned out to be incorrect.

Calum Stevenson, an ocean shore natural resource specialist for the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department who helped bury the deceased whale on Wednesday, said it was definitely not a juvenile.

“It turned out to be an adult,” Stevenson said. “It was 39 feet long.”

A television group with the King Broadcasting Company in Portland, Ore., reported that a 20-foot-long juvenile gray whale had washed ashore and that biologists were trying to figure out if it could be the calf of “MaMa.”

Stevenson said the whale was found on the beach on Christmas day and that it had likely been deceased and out at sea for about a week. He said workers had to move the whale about one-quarter mile south of its location in order to bury it Wednesday.

“We dragged it and then dug a 15-foot-deep hole and buried it in the sand,” Stevenson said.

Humboldt State University marine biology professor Dawn Goley said a 39-foot whale is pretty much a full-grown adult and that it’s highly unlikely such a large whale would be MaMa’s calf.

MaMa entered the river with her calf on June 24, swimming as far inland as the U.S. Highway 101 bridge. Three weeks after entering the river, her calf swam back to the ocean. MaMa stayed and eventually died on Aug. 16.

Before MaMa was buried on the Klamath riverbank by the Yurok Tribe, biologists did a necropsy — an animal autopsy — to determine the whale’s cause of death. Goley said the recently received results of tissue samples from MaMa showed she had a secondary infection caused by the integrity of her skin being compromised.

“Cellularly, there were sort of breaks in the skin that could allow pathogens to get in,” Goley said.

Sarah Wilkin, stranding coordinator with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association, said it was likely MaMa’s skin infection that killed her. Wilkin said the whale had some sort of fungal infection.

“It is definitely from being in fresh water,” Wilkin said. “It weakened the skin and allowed for a way for the fungus to get in.”

times-standard.com

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