During the past two months, 15 dead gray whales of the Chukotka-California population have been found washed ashore in Russia. [MoscowTimes]
Gray whales typically migrate from the Chukchi Sea, which is bordered by Alaska and Russia, to Baja California for the winter. The entire population migrates past San Luis Obispo County’s coastline twice a year.
On Tuesday, a Russian marine life organization announced five carcases had been found beached on the Chuckota Coast. In September, Russian scientists found 10 beached gray whales in the same area.
“We need to register all the cases of these animals’ death and investigate the reasons of the incident,” Marine Mammal Council deputy head Andrei Boltunov told the Moscow Times.
In the United States, the whales have been off of the endangered list since 1994. However, Russian scientists currently have the gray whales on their threatened species list.
