Mother Whale and Baby out there in CA!

[KoKo]

I would wish that the Biologists, Scientists from other Faiths and Media would JUST LET THIS MOTHER DO WHAT SHE HAS TO FOR HER BABY!

If they were cut with Propeller blades from a boat this "Concerned Mother" probably knew SHE AND HER BABY needed a "TIME OUT" to re-orient and BE SAFE. She took her baby "Up RIVER" and all this CRAP about "Recorded Whale Sounds" is causing her STRESS.

Please! Leave HER AND HER BABY ALONE... Just "Observe" and "Record" the way Scientists (before Bush) USED TO DO and LET HER DO WHAT SHE NEEDS TO DO!

All this interference will KILL ...both the Mother and BABY Whale!

Why does this become a Media THING? It gives the Biologists more CREDS for GOVERNMENT GRANTS if they SHOW UP and get "Dr. Gupta" to CRED THEM!

LEAVE THEM ALONE! A MOTHER KNOWS "in the WILD" what TO DO WITH HER BABY AND HERSELF when they are INJURED!

STOP the MEDIA! STOP IT!

[Gabi Hayes]

1. According to the hilarious Chuck Booms (on with David Shuster), those aren't whales.

It's Rosie ODonnell and Joy Behar

[bananas]

2. ??? What's going on? Is this on tv? nt

[Greyskye]

3. 2 humpback whales swimming up the Sacramento River

Here is a link to news coverage of this:

http://news.google.com/news?q=humpback+whale+sacramento+river&num=100&hl=en&newwindow=1&safe=off&rls=GGLJ,GGLJ:2006-14,GGLJ:en&pwst=1&um=1&sa=X&oi=news_group&resnum=4&ct=title

[TomInTib]

15. I actually saw them from my house (SFBay).

See my reply downthread.

[MzNov]

4. The mother and baby have only so long to be in the River delta because

they do not have an adequate food source in that river. CA researchers and marine experts are the best in the world, so not to worry. Also, freighters in the Delta were asked to stop making noise so as not to stress out the whales. Experts figure they have about 20+ days to slowly motivate the whales to go back to sea. The mother is already losing blubber, a sign that she is not getting enough to eat.

Here's a good article, scroll down about half-way to see why they can't remain indefinitely. Do you remember Humphrey? They did the same procedures to get him back to the ocean.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/05/18/BAGEIPTFEJ1.DTL

Our friends will be fine, they are in good hands.

[kerry-is-my-prez]

8. I just hope that these people aren't associated with BushCo....

If they are working for them - chances are they are going to do "one heck of a job!"

[KoKo]

12. We have to hope...I'm still saying that she knows best for her calf...and she needed "Time Out."

Her instinct (MIGHT) show her when it's time to get out of "fresh water" back into "Salt" if they stop BOMBARDING HER WITH SOUND!

What IF ...Whales know the difference between "Recorded Sound" and "REAL TIME!"

Of course all those RESEARCHERS looking to make MILLIONS aren't going to tell you how important it is for them to get their butts out there to get FUNDING for their RESEARCH!

I could see an argument that if "Researchers" could figure out "what whale sounds will entice 'beached or inlet bound whales" to GO BACK TO THE SEA...then BOTH "Environmentalists & the Government Grant Researchers would be VERY HAPPY!" ...It would be like the Meeting of the BEST OF MINDS for OVERSIGHT AND FUNDING!

BUT...I CANNOT TRUST ANYONE IN BUSH GOVT...INCLUDING THEIR UNIVERSITIES to do TRUE/UNBIASED RESEARCH...so I say: LET THE MOTHER TAKE CARE OF HER BABY!!!!!!!!!!!

[MonkeyFunk]

16. oh for god's sake

nobody's making millions off this.

You're being silly. This method has worked in the past. They're doing this out of altruism, not some inane get-rich-quick scheme you've concocted in your mind.

They're likely grad students and academics.

Fat, lazy marine biologists, just trying to score a quick buck... :eyes:

[uppityperson]

20. RESEARCHERS make MILLIONS?

Hardly.If they made millions, why would they need funding? Or do they need FUNDING to make MILLIONS????!!!?!?!?!

[OregonBlue]

21. Really, you need not to worry. If she and her baby do not get out of

there, they will die. They are very far up the river and there is not enough food for them. This is not about making money, it's about trying to get her and the baby turned around and back out to the ocean so they can swim north. She seems to think that the land on the north side of the river is an island and just keeps swimming back and forth looking for a way around it. She has been hurt and they have now banned all large boats to protect her.

[KoKo]

27. According to CNN...the Janet Reno Sound Bombardment of the Whales

Continues! I hope it won't end up like the "Branch Davidians" with fire and implosion, death.

[uppityperson]

31. Unlikely they will burn and implode like "Branch Davidians" did.

[MonkeyFunk]

33. well

if they'd just come out of the water with their fins up, they'll have nothing to worry about.

:eyes:

[MzNov]

30. Seriously, are you kidding??? These marine biologists are NOT

the bush administration. You don't find many busheviks who care about marine life. CA marine experts are the best in the world! And I doubt they make much money.

Sometimes animals get confused and especially whales make wrong turns. Ferrchrissakes, these two whales need help getting back to their habitats. I doubt the mother said, gee I need a break, kid, let's take a tour up the Sacramento River, I hear the scenery is great.

Wake up girly and do some reading on this.

[Greyskye]

5. They've successfully used this technique before

Back in 1985, they used this procedure to get "Humphrey" the humpback whale out of the Sacramento River, and back to the ocean.

[Pastiche423]

28. They used the same methods

after Humphrey returned about five years later. But 1st the Coast Guard had to free him from a mudflat near Candlestick Park (where the Niners play).

A friend of mine had a 25' cabin cruiser and we got to see him UP CLOSE on our way to Tiberon from SF on his 2nd visit.

[pinto]

6. 'Whale sounds', pod talk among migrating whales has been used before, successfully.

We have a strong cold water upwelling along the Pacific Coast right now, bringing loads of food up to the migration route these whales take to their summer feeding grounds in Alaska.

WEST SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) Biologists hope the salty waters and ample food of the Pacific Ocean will speed the recovery of two humpback whales injured on a 90-mile detour up the Sacramento River.

To get them to the ocean, the biologists plan to play the underwater sounds of humpbacks from a boat as the tide goes out, said researchers with the Sausalito-based Marine Mammal Center, which has taken the lead on the attempted rescue.

<snip>

The whales, first spotted Sunday in the lower Sacramento River, likely were on their northward migration from Mexico up the California coast when they were sidetracked, biologists said. Because they are at the end of their hibernation season, they have less blubber to rely on for fuel than they would later in the summer or fall, Gulland said.

It's unusual for whales to reach so far into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, but it has happened before. In 1985, a humpback was escorted back to sea after swimming in the delta for nearly a month.

http://dwb.sacbee.com/24hour/healthscience/story/3620994p-12927508c.html

[MonkeyFunk]

7. No

sometimes even whales make mistakes.

The mother is malnourished, and losing weight. There isn't enough food in the Delta.

Sometimes whales get lost. Often, they beach themselves. They don't always do what's "right".

I'm grateful people are trying to help them get back to the ocean.

[warrior1]

9. They have named them

Delta and Dawn.

I sure hope they make it back home. That have both been injured.

[MzNov]

10. The salt water of the sea and food supply will help them recover.

[MonkeyFunk]

11. Yes

the saltwater will help heal the wounds a lot.

[KoKo]

13. And see my post #12........n/t

[MonkeyFunk]

17. I did

and it was even stupider than the OP.

[uppityperson]

19. thank you.

[KoKo]

22. Well.. just look at it as an OPPO from a DU Environmentalist...

:eyes:

[MonkeyFunk]

24. well

I think the trained marine biologists who are working on this are probably environmentalists, too. And they have the added advantage of actually knowing something about the topic.

[KoKo]

23. It's definitely a "VOYEURISTIC OPPORTUNITY! Watch the Whales...

DIE OR BE SAVED...in the mode of the NEW REALITY ENVIRO SHOWS! :puke:

[uppityperson]

25. are you watching it?

[MonkeyFunk]

26. CAPITAL LETTERS

ARE KILLING THE WHALES!!!!

[TomInTib]

14. I saw them from my veranda.

I live about 100 feet over SFBay and was talking on the phone one morning when I saw one of them "blow" directly below me.

I blurted out, "I just saw a whale!" and my friend told me to quit drinking into the wee hours as it was obviously affecting my perception.

This was some days ago before they had made the news.

They were so cool-looking, just lolling about.

[AlCzervik]

18. they aren't that far from me and i'm tempted to go see them but i'm sure it's

crazy over there. They keep bringing in different things to lure them out of the channel.

[Judi Lynn]

29. Thousands Flock to See Wayward Whales

Thousands Flock to See Wayward Whales
By AARON C. DAVIS 05.20.07, 2:41 AM ET

Thousands of spectators watched Saturday as two wayward whales swam looping half-mile laps around the Port of Sacramento after declining earlier efforts to lure them into the Pacific Ocean.
(snip)

The dusty riverbank along the Port of Sacramento took on the air of a carnival Saturday as police officers directed traffic into makeshift parking lots, vendors sold ice cream and lines formed outside Port-o-Potties.
(snip)

The whales swam in peace with the help of a Coast Guard escort Saturday. The Coast Guard enforced a 500-yard safety zone around the whales and authorities closed the north port channel and a nearby public boat ramp for the weekend.
(snip)

If scientists have not made progress by Tuesday, they plan to begin herding the animals down river with a gauntlet of 50 boats that would provide a less pleasing underwater soundtrack of banging on pipes.
(snip/)

http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2007/05/20/ap3739282.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Saturday, May 19, 2007


New strategies in works to entice stranded humpback whales




~snip~
"We really do not want to stress the mother or calf in any way because they are compromised by the injuries," Gulland said.

On Thursday, the whales twice began moving out of the port after the feeding sounds were broadcast from a boat. But both times they turned back into the large basin where oceangoing freighters turn around.

Biologists hope to get the whales back into the ocean, where food is more plentiful and the saltwater can heal their cuts. Recorded whale sounds worked in 1985 with a humpback nicknamed Humphrey, which swam in the delta for nearly a month before returning to the Pacific.

But the situation near Sacramento was more complicated, they said. It involves a mother and calf, rather than a single whale, and the mother's concern for her baby may explain why she did not respond to the scientists' efforts to appeal to her stomach, Gulland said.
(snip)

The good news on Friday was that biologists did not detect significant health changes from a day earlier, Gulland said.

"Both mother and calf are still swimming and breathing and surfacing at similar rates as they were over the past few days," she said.
(snip/...)

http://www3.whdh.com/news/articles/national/BO52530/

[LeftyMom]

32. Okay, since I'm local and I know a bit about whales, here's the deal.

1. They are in the deep water channel next to the Port of Sacramento. They bring enormous oceangoing tankers of ag stuff (mostly rice) in and out of there. This isn't the busy season, but pretty soon stuff will start stacking up and this will not be so great for local farmers if the tankers are delayed and for the whales if they aren't.

2. There's nothing to eat out there if you're a filter feeding whale. It's 100 miles to the nearest decent food source.

3. They do have some experience getting whales turned around and out of here, since they had to do it with Humphrey twice (though he was in Rio Vista- don't think there's ever been one this far inland.)

4. They probably got cut up by propeller blades here. There's really not much chance of that out in the ocean, but people go racing right through the area where they are and the route they took to get here. Great whales don't go hang out 100 miles inland to recuperate.

5. This is the season where they eat and put on weight. If they don't do that, and they can't here, they may very well not be able to survive the winter should they make it back to the ocean. If they wait around here for a while they may not be up to the return trip.

Bottom line: They aren't in immediate danger, but they will starve to death if they aren't back in the ocean. The sooner they head home, the better the prognosis.

[MonkeyFunk]

34. Thank you Lefty....

There really is nothing sinister at work here. Whales make mistakes, too. The people involved are trying their very best to help them, with no expectation of remuneration.

I hope they make it back to the ocean soon.

[blues90]

35. What happene the that algae bloom in calif that is releasing toxic

acid and killing sea life , birds ,fish and seals ? This just evaporated .

[Marrah_G]

36. This is probably one of the most bizarre threads I've seen on DU

A poster is actually upset that researchers, who are usually the most passionate of environmentalists, are trying to save the lives of a Mother and baby whale.

Am I in the twilight zone?

[HEyHEY]

37. Don't blame the media

What are they supposed to do, say "Oh, we can't report on this cause it could lead to interference.

And people bitch about media censorship, and now here you are demanding it.