Klamath River Whale Harassment
Yesterday I went over to see how the Klamath River whale was doing. Everything was as it had been on every other day – throngs of people lining the bridge to see the once-in-a-lifetime view of a whale in a river. The gentle giant was doing her usual swim and spout around and under the bridge. I noticed a young man in an inner tube floating near her. From a photographer’s eye, I thought that would be a great picture just from the size disparity. I took a few images, but then what I saw next was very upsetting. The above boat came and picked up the inner tube floater and proceeded to race up to and around the whale getting dangerously close to her. The crowd on the bridge yelled down at them to stop and to leave the whale alone. They continued on with their harassment of her and then when they were through they raced off past the crowd, under the bridge and flipped everyone off.
The Federal Marine Mammal Protection Act prohibits humans from harassing whales and other marine mammals. 100 yard distance is being blatantly ignored.
I have been documenting the whales journey since mom and her calf arrived over a month ago. Many images of these beautiful mammals can be seen at http://www.flickr.com/photos/ashala. email: ashala7@gmail.com (TO VIEW IMAGES FULL SIZE, CLICK ON THE IMAGE)
After Harassing the Whale They Sped Off
Klamath River Whale Harassment
Comments on: "Klamath River Whale Harassment – Daily Whale Update" (6)
I seen the harrassment that day too, called NOAA and hopefully they will stop it
Evidently there were a lot of calls about that incident, but by the time anyone got there they were long gone.
The number to report harassment is: 800 853-1964. The Highway Patrol today called it in when a boat was too close to her. Kudos to the Highway Patrol.
thats frusterating. hopefully she leaves soon, but I am very worried about her, she doesn’t look good at all
Great shooting with you the other day, Nikki. Let me know next time you are this way.
Thanks, it was nice to meet you. We are thinking of coming to Trinnidad soon, I will let you know. I will have my new camera on Tuesday, so maybe I will be able to play up there with it. On the way home I found a herd of Elk not far from Trinnadad