A gray whale that swam 20 miles up a Washington state river is found dead
Source: AP
By MARK THIESSEN
Updated 7:02 PM CDT, April 5, 2026
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A juvenile gray whale that amazed Washington state residents after it swam 20 miles up a small river was found dead, and an official with a marine mammal research group suspects hunger may have driven the whale to new hunting grounds as the species’ population declines.
The whale was discovered Saturday near Raymond, Washington, in the Willapa River, which feeds into the ocean at Willapa Bay. A number of gray whales are currently in the bay on their 5,000-mile (8,000-kilometer) spring migration from birthing grounds in Baja California, Mexico, north to feeding grounds in Alaska.
The larger issue that the population of gray whales in the eastern part of the Pacific Ocean has faced since 2019 is reduced food availability in the northern Bering and Chukchi seas off Alaska’s coast, John Calambokidis, a research biologist with the Cascadia Research Collective, told The Associated Press on Sunday.
“Gray whales are facing a major crisis and the heart of it does seem to be feeding on their prey in the Arctic,” he said.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/gray-whale-dies-washington-river-ba070a4060f2f48f0e4533cc14b944b2
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We had a wayward whale in our bay years ago. He was young and grieving the death of his mother. He kept beaching himself.
Canadian whale experts arrived to help because no one was able to get him back to the Strait. Those great people kept him covered in wet sheets all night so he would not dry out and die. The next day they were able to coax him, with a motor boat, back into the Strait.
Another reason to love Canadians! 
