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***Media Alert***

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

The Center’s Director of Veterinary Medicine, Dr. Frances Gulland, assisted a veterinarian from Sea World and a team from The Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History in performing a necropsy Saturday, September 22, 2007, on the third blue whale that stranded in Southern California. The examination of this whale revealed that it was also the victim of a ship strike. Dr. Gulland reports that it was a 66 foot male with massive fractures, a hemorrhage along its left side, and a broken back. The whale’s death marks a string of blue whale deaths within 13 days, and according to Dr. Gulland, “may be an indicator of an unusual mortality event”. Scientists are now studying a hypothesis that the whales may have become disoriented by an illness or toxic algae, preventing their effective response to approaching vessels.

Friday, September 21, 2007

A Third Dead Blue Whale Spotted Floating in the Santa Barbara Channel

A week after a blue whale carcass was discovered floating in Ventura County and another in Long Beach Harbor, The Marine Mammal Center’s, Director of Veterinary Science, Dr. Frances Gulland, traveled back to Southern California to look at the latest blue whale carcass which was spotted on September 20. Plans to bring the 70 foot male whale ashore began today. According to Michelle Berman with the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History (SBMNH), a team will be assembled Saturday morning to bring the whale ashore near a Naval Base. As of around 1:15 PM today SBMNH reports that the carcass was floating south of Platform Grace.

A total of three blue whales have floated ashore in Southern California within the past two weeks. Two were believed to have been struck by ships. It is not known yet if this latest carcass suffered a similar fate. Dr. Gulland and other biologists plan on examining whale to determine if it may have been disoriented by some sort of illness. The appearance of these three whale carcasses within such a short time period and within the same geographic region is highly unusual and may be an indicator of an unusual mortality event. According to the SBMNH website, since 1980, only six blue whales have stranded in this area.

To learn more about blue whales click here.

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