Wayward Whales Make Way Toward Sea

May 28, 01:30 PM

Current Headlines: By Marcus Wholsen, Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO -- Two whales lost on the Sacramento River swam 14 miles toward the ocean on Sunday after lingering for a week near a bridge about 70 miles from the sea, officials coordinating the rescue said.

The mother humpback and her calf passed under the Rio Vista Bridge and were spotted near the city of Pittsburg, near a confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, said Greg Hurner, a senior adviser with the California Department of Fish and Game.

As efforts to coax the mother and calf back to the Pacific Ocean dragged into a third week, veterinarians earlier Sunday swabbed samples from bumps resembling blisters or lesions on the whales' skin.

The humpbacks' long exposure to fresh water has led to serious skin damage, biologists said, making them vulnerable to germs they would not face in their saltwater habitat.

"We really need to try to get them back into a more appropriate environment so they can start healing," said Trevor Spradlin, a marine mammal biologist with the National Oceanic and

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