A dead baby gray whale washed ashore on Will Rogers State Beach just south of Lifeguard Tower 17 (between Potrero Canyon and Chautauqua) on Saturday afternoon. The mammal was estimated to be about 16 feet long and weigh about 1,300 pounds. Lifeguard David Carr, who has worked Will Rogers Beach for seven years, first spotted the baby whale about 100 yards offshore near Temescal Canyon Road when he came to work at 7:30 a.m.. Carr observed the body floating in the ocean, and five hours later it finally washed ashore. Once he saw that the whale had not decomposed and appeared to have no wounds, Carr contacted Peter Wallerstein, founder of the Whale Rescue Team and director of L.A. County Marine Animal Rescue. Wallerstein later told the Palisadian-Post that the cause of death was not instantly apparent. ‘This was such a fresh carcass that skin and blubber samples were taken to see if a cause could be determined,’ said Wallerstein, who has rescued hundreds of marine animals who are tangled in nets or who are discovered ill along beaches. ‘It’s not uncommon for dead animals to wash up, but this animal looked really good.’ Mammalogist David Janiger of the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum came and took tissue samples. He was contacted by the Post about the tissues, but had not responded by press time. Wallerstein is hopeful that the analyzed tissue may provide clues not only about the baby and the cause of its death, but also clues about the mother. Gray whales migrate yearly starting in October from their feeding grounds near Alaska, and arrive in Baja California two to three months later. The gestation period for the mammal is 12 to 13 months, and babies are usually born in December. Although Santa Monica Bay is on the edge of the migration route’and mothers and calves travel close to shore on the northbound migration’this is the first time Carr has ever seen a baby whale wash ashore. Wallerstein said that gray whales are often seen just off shore because they feed on tiny crustaceans and tubeworms found in bottom sediments. ‘I’ve received calls from people who tell me that a whale is trying to beach itself, but in reality it’s only eating,’ he said. ‘The whales are so close they alarm people.’ Once tissue samples were taken, the whale was buried in the sand behind Tower 15. ‘We needed to get it off the beach before high tide came and took it back out to sea,’ Carr said. For more information on marine animal rescue, visit: marspecialists.org.
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