Delta and Dawn, also known as the Delta whales, are two

humpback whales The humpback whale (''Megaptera novaeangliae'') is a species of baleen whale. It is a rorqual (a member of the family Balaenopteridae) and is the only species in the genus ''Megaptera''. Adults range in length from and weigh up to . The hump ...

, a mother and her calf, who entered

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...

in early May 2007. They swam up the

Sacramento River The Sacramento River ( es, Río Sacramento) is the principal river of Northern California in the United States and is the largest river in California. Rising in the Klamath Mountains, the river flows south for before reaching the Sacramento–S ...

approximately upstream from the

Golden Gate The Golden Gate is a strait on the west coast of North America that connects San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. It is defined by the headlands of the San Francisco Peninsula and the Marin Peninsula, and, since 1937, has been spanned by th ...

, about further inland than

Humphrey the Whale Humphrey the Whale is a humpback whale that twice deviated from his Mexico to Alaska migration by entering San Francisco Bay. This behavior is unusual for a humpback whale, and Humphrey attracted wide media attention when entering the bay in bo ...

had gone two decades earlier. Under the

Endangered Species Act The Endangered Species Act of 1973 (ESA or "The Act"; 16 U.S.C. § 1531 et seq.) is the primary law in the United States for protecting imperiled species. Designed to protect critically imperiled species from extinction as a "consequence of ec ...

, California state officials were required to rescue the animals. Their journey was thought to be the longest

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...

incursion by humpback whales.

Efforts to save the whales

Staff from the

Marine Mammal Center The Marine Mammal Center (TMMC) is a private, non-profit U.S. organization that was established in 1975 for the purpose of rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing marine mammals who are injured, ill or abandoned. It was founded in Sausalito, Califo ...

, researchers,

Coast Guard A coast guard or coastguard is a maritime security organization of a particular country. The term embraces wide range of responsibilities in different countries, from being a heavily armed military force with customs and security duties to ...

personnel, and volunteers tried several methods to coax Delta and Dawn back downriver. The Marine Mammal Center was appointed by the

California Office of Emergency Services The California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) is a California cabinet-level office responsible for overseeing and coordinating emergency preparedness, response, recovery and homeland security activities within the state. The agen ...

as the lead rescue agency. Officials played recordings of the

sounds In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

of other humpback whales feeding and socializing to lure them, and banged on submerged metal pipes and sprayed high-powered blasts of water to repel them, but it is not clear whether any of these were particularly effective. There was heightened concern for the whales' well-being this time, because both of them had sizable gash wounds, most likely made from boat

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

strikes.

Veterinarians A veterinarian (vet), also known as a veterinary surgeon or veterinary physician, is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, vet ...

from the Marine Mammal Center and WHOI administered

antibiotics An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the treatment and prevention o ...

to the whales to help heal these deep open wounds, and they took samples of skin lesions incurred during the whales' extended time away from

seawater Seawater, or salt water, is water from a sea or ocean. On average, seawater in the world's oceans has a salinity of about 3.5% (35 g/L, 35 ppt, 600 mM). This means that every kilogram (roughly one liter by volume) of seawater has appro ...

to analyze them for possible

bacterial infection Pathogenic bacteria are bacteria that can cause disease. This article focuses on the bacteria that are pathogenic to humans. Most species of bacteria are harmless and are often beneficial but others can cause infectious diseases. The number of ...

. This was the first time antibiotics had been administered to free swimming whales in the wild.

Return to the sea

On May 20, after languishing for six days in the

Sacramento Deep Water Ship Channel The Sacramento Deep Water Ship Channel (also known as Sacramento River Deep Water Ship Channel or SRDWSC) is a canal from the Port of Sacramento in West Sacramento, California, to the Sacramento River, which flows into San Francisco Bay. It was ...

, the whales finally started moving. They were spotted the next day about downstream, just upriver from Rio Vista, where they lingered for several days, seemingly hesitant to pass under the

Rio Vista Bridge The Rio Vista Bridge (officially the Helen Madere Memorial Bridge) is a continuous truss span with a vertical-lift bridge in the middle which carries California State Route 12 across the Sacramento River at Rio Vista, California. The present bridg ...

. On May 27 they were on the move again and were spotted the next day another downstream in the saltier waters of

Suisun Bay Suisun Bay ( ; Wintun for "where the west wind blows") is a shallow tidal estuary (a northeastern extension of the San Francisco Bay) in Northern California. It lies at the confluence of the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River, forming the ent ...

, just or so from the ocean, but again their circling movements seemed to indicate a reluctance to pass beneath a bridge, actually a trio of bridges this time at Benicia. On May 29, however, they again moved quickly, passing under the Benicia Bridge in the morning and swimming through the

Carquinez Strait The Carquinez Strait (; Spanish: ''Estrecho de Carquinez'') is a narrow tidal strait in Northern California. It is part of the tidal estuary of the Sacramento and the San Joaquin rivers as they drain into the San Francisco Bay. The strait is lo ...

and past yet another pair of

bridges A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whic ...

. By late afternoon they had continued through

San Pablo Bay San Pablo Bay is a tidal estuary that forms the northern extension of San Francisco Bay in the East Bay and North Bay regions of the San Francisco Bay Area in northern California. Most of the Bay is shallow; however, there is a deep water ch ...

and were circling just beyond the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge near Tiburon. They were last spotted at sunset that night, within of the

Golden Gate Bridge The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the U.S. city of San Francisco, California—the northern tip of the San Francisco Pen ...

and the open ocean beyond.

Naming convention

A small controversy arose over what to call the whales as soon as they were spotted far enough upriver to warrant significant attention. Besides being called "the Wayward Whales," they were also dubbed "Momma" and "Baby", "Rio" and "Vista", and "Delta" and "Dawn" (for the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta and the 1970s song "

Delta Dawn "Delta Dawn" is a song written by musician Larry Collins and country songwriter Alex Harvey (country musician), Alex Harvey. The first notable recording of the song was in 1971 by American singer and actress Bette Middler, Bette Midler for her ...

"). California's Lieutenant Governor,

John Garamendi John Raymond Garamendi (; born January 24, 1945) is an American businessman, politician, and member of the Democratic Party who has represented areas of Northern California between San Francisco and Sacramento, including the cities of Fairfield ...

, was the one to bestow the last pair of names upon the whales. Their names were inspired by local media contests throughout the region.

Legacy

The story of the wayward whales inspired Stefanie Cruz, a news anchor for Sacramento-based television station

KOVR KOVR (channel 13) is a television station licensed to Stockton, California, United States, broadcasting the CBS network to the Sacramento area. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside CW affiliate K ...

, to write a children's book based on the tale, ''Delta & Dawn: Mother and Baby Whales' Journey'', which was released November 2007. The whales were also parodied by a cartoon.

References

External links