Sacramento humpback whales head back toward Ocean

May 21, 2007

Sacramento, California - Two humpback whales have turned back downstream toward San Francisco Bay after a week lost upriver near Sacramento, California, authorities said Sunday.

Two humpback whales have turned back downstream toward San Francisco Bay after a week lost upriver near Sacramento, California, authorities said Sunday.

"I'm thrilled," said Rod McInnis, regional admnistrator for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's fisheries service. "We've done a lot of planning. We've planned for a lot of different incidents, a lot of different possiblities, and we'll take this one."

The mother and calf have drawn a crowd of spectators to the banks of the Sacramento River, nearly 80 miles upstream from San Francisco, while experts tried to steer them back toward the ocean with the sounds of other humpback whales feeding and socializing.

Experts say the humpbacks -- an endangered species -- appear to have been slashed by boat propellers, and the wounds would heal more quickly in salt water. The whales turned back downstream about 2 p.m. (5 p.m. ET) while crews at the Port of Sacramento were moving barges out of the way of an inbound cargo ship, said Capt. Paul Hamilton, of the California Department of Fish and Game.