PACIFICA, Calif. — A dead whale washed ashore Friday morning on a California beach, the 12th dead whale to be found since February in the San Francisco Bay area.
Wildlife officials with the Marine Mammal Center said the whale washed ashore around 3 p.m. at Pacifica State Beach, KTVU reported.
The species is unknown because of the advanced state of decomposition. A necropsy, which determines cause of death, will not be conducted.
At least a dozen dead whales have been found since February in the San Francisco Bay area, KRON reported. There were five dead whales in April. The Marine Mammal Center has conducted necropsies on at least eight whales this year. Often, the cause of death was boat strike.
“Our team hasn’t responded to this number of dead gray whales in such a short span since 2019 when we performed a startling 13 necropsies in the San Francisco Bay Area,” Dr. Pádraig Duignan, with the Marine Mammal Center, told KRON.