Bay Area mammal experts made a decision on Tuesday to euthanize a minke whale that’s been catching attention for days near Emeryville.
Zhang described her reaction when she saw the wayward whale swimming close to the water's edge while on her morning walk. Excitement that quickly turned into concern as the whale became grounded.
“At first, I was excited to see it in Emeryville, and then I realize it’s probably not a good thing for it to be so close to shore,” said Emeryville Resident Connie Zhang.
The minke whale was first spotted last Wednesday and it showed up again yesterday getting stranded for 90 minutes before the high tide helped it swim away. But this morning it returned to even shallower water.
“The animal for some reason really wants to stay in shallow water. That's not a good sign, but we're just going to observe,” said Bill Keener, Marine Mammal Center.
Alameda County firefighters tried spraying it with water to keep its sunburned and peeling skin from getting worse
“That's always a good thing to keep the animal skin moist. You don't want the skin to dry out because that's how it gets the real severe sunburn. So keeping it wet is a good thing
Experts initially hoped it would float out into the bay with high tide like it did last night but its limited movement and labored breathing led to a tough decision.
“In, the last hour, our partners as well as our experts have this animal concluded. We are going to elect humane euthanasia to relieve this animal of it suffering. It's not a decision that we take lightly,” said Giancarlo Rulli with the Marine Mammal Center
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Experts are now conducting a necropsy, an animal autopsy to figure out what led to the minke whale's strange behavior and ultimately its death.
