RIP harbour whale
Seems like our whale has come to a sad end in Varennes. Some marine biologists had warned that she was out of her normal habitat and was probably lost, and she didn’t manage to find her way home.
Seems like our whale has come to a sad end in Varennes. Some marine biologists had warned that she was out of her normal habitat and was probably lost, and she didn’t manage to find her way home.
Ian 08:25 on 2020-06-09 Permalink
I know they haven’t explicitly said, but is the whale dead or just beached?
Ian 08:26 on 2020-06-09 Permalink
//edit
the CBC article is somewhat more explicit. RIP.
Kate 08:34 on 2020-06-09 Permalink
Thanks for the further link, Ian.
Ian 11:54 on 2020-06-09 Permalink
TBH I’m kind of surprised it wasn’t being monitored. You would think there were a whole range of marine biologists (for example) who would have been all over this once in a lifetime opportunity to help out a whale, and provincial level authorities with the budget to do so… I guess this is beyond the scope of the city’s regular wildlife services patrol but I’m surprised there was nothing.
Kate 11:56 on 2020-06-09 Permalink
Ian, a lot of people were watching it, but I don’t think we can easily see what a whale is doing at night, even now. And, from what I understand, we have no practical way of chivvying such a creature in the direction we want it to go.
walkerp 12:29 on 2020-06-09 Permalink
Brutal metaphor for the environment during the pandemic. The animals finally got to return to their traditional homes while we stayed at home. Now as soon as we start coming out again, they die.
Ian 18:25 on 2020-06-09 Permalink
Your metaphor is heavy handed and problematic. Whales belong in salt water, further upstream. If humans all disappeared tomorrow, forever, hanging out in the port of Montreal would still be not for whales.
Emily G 18:37 on 2020-06-09 Permalink
In the Gazette:
Eulogy for a wandering whale.
https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/columnists/allison-hanes-eulogy-for-a-wandering-whale
dwgs 08:29 on 2020-06-10 Permalink
*pedant alert* Sorry Ian but the salt water is to be found downstream, upstream is Lake Ontario.
Ian 11:51 on 2020-06-10 Permalink
Haha good point