SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — A gray whale that was found dead in the San Francisco Bay this week had injuries consistent with a vessel strike, officials with The Marine Mammal Center announced Thursday in an update.
The 42-foot-long adult female gray whale was initially found floating dead near the Golden Gate Bridge on Tuesday morning. The carcass was towed to Angel Island State Park, and a necropsy, or animal autopsy, was performed Wednesday afternoon.
Scientists determined that the whale was in a normal “expected condition this time of year based on their current migration stage heading north,” TMMC wrote. It was learned based on the whale’s stomach contents that it had recently been foraging.
The large adult whale was positioned at Angel Island with its underside facing up, limiting the scientists’ ability to observe signs of blunt force trauma, according to the center…