A Bad Week for Whales

Update, 3:30 p.m. Tuesday

Scientists have confirmed that the endangered fin whale found on the beach in Bolinas died because it was hit by a ship.

Original Post:

Two of the three dead whales that washed up in and around San Francisco Bay over the past week were confirmed killed by ship strikes.

The Marine Mammal Center posted a photo on Thursday of a third whale, an endangered fin whale, that washed up on the beach near Bolinas, becoming the fifth dead whale in the Bay Area since March.

Before the necropsy was completed, the Marine Mammal Center tweeted that the whale was “looking like it could have died from an entanglement and then got hit by a ship.”

This comes after another endangered fin whale washed up in the Oakland estuary last Friday.

On the bright side, I saw a pod of approximately four humpback whales in the bay while commuting by ferry on Thursday.