San Francisco Chronicle, May 5, 2015 (emphasis added): Beach mystery: Another dead whale washes up in Pacifica — For the second time in three weeks, a dead whale has washed up on [the same beach]… “Something’s going on with nature,” said Ralph Clement… “This is kind of eerie. What are the odds of two whales in the same place? It has to mean something.”… “This is just not supposed to happen,” [Courtney] Patterson said. “It’s very unnerving. Is this caused by a lack of food?”… Jane Nahass said she has been walking on Pacifica beaches for 26 years and never saw two dead whales so close together. “Something’s going on,” she said.
NBC Bay Area, May 5, 2015: The 32-ft humpback is only a 5 minute walk from the decomposing sperm whale… Witness: “This is totally something new, something strange.” The Marine Mammal Center calls the beached whales a coincidence [and that it’s] an expected spot for marine life to wash up… But for a small crowd on the beach, the whale was anything but expected. Witness: “I’ve never seen this before in my whole life.”
KTVU, May 5, 2015: Anchor: Yet another dead whale was discovered today [at] almost the exact same spot where another huge whale washed ashore… Reporter: In 3 weeks, 5 dead whales have now beached along the Northern California coast.
KRON, May 6, 2015: Scientists conducted a necropsy on the 42-foot adult female humpback… if the whale had been struck by a ship, the scientists would have expected to see more broken ribs, so the exact cause of death remains unknown…
NBC Bay Area, May 5, 2015: John Valentini, 74 [said] “I have no idea what’s going on.” Sue Pemberton with the California Academy of Sciences [said] she doesn’t think there’s anything particularly wrong with the ocean, or that there is an epidemic of dead whales… Scientists still don’t know what killed the adult sperm whale [from April]… the Marine Mammal Center… has responded to 21 humpback whales and 17 sperm whales that washed up… in its 40-year history.
Press Democrat: Apr 20, 2015: A rare stranding of a 26-foot-long killer whale… the third cetacean to become stranded along the Northern California coast in less than a week… a common dolphin [was] found dying early last week… [It’s] just the sixth time in 40 years that the center has responded to a call about a stranded orca, [a Marine Mammal Center official] said.
San Jose Mercury News, Apr 22, 2015: Stranded killer whale mystifies scientists
CBS Bay Area, May 5, 2015: Fifth Dead Whale In 3 Weeks Washes Ashore NorCal Beach… two whale strandings occurred on the same beach… a killer whale also beached [in a] rare occurrence… April 24, two gray whale carcasses washed up on a Santa Cruz County beach.
KCRA, Mar 6, 2015: Massive Humpback whale washes ashore in Santa Cruz County
Dolf DeJong, vice president at Vancouver Aquarium, May 4, 2015: Grey Whale Washes Up On[Vancouver Island]… a dead marine mammal on shore is not a frequent occurrence… This was the first dead whale I had ever seen [and it] died far too early… we do not know the cause…
Xinhua, May 8, 2015: Workers bury a gray whale at the seashore [10 miles from San Diego]
Watch News Reports: NBC Bay Area | KTVU
