A whale in the bay off Emeryville, Calif., on April 7, 2025, is likely a juvenile minke whale. The whale became stranded on an offshore mudflat and had to be euthanized on April 8, 2025. Minke whale sightings are rare in the bay, but not unprecedented. If confirmed to be a minke whale, this would be the fifth documented sighting in the past 16 years according to researchers. (Bill Keener/The Marine Mammal Center via Bay City News)

DESPITE FIREFIGHTERS extending wood planks into the San Francisco Bay for rescuers to reach a minke whale stranded on a mudflat just off Emeryville, experts from the Marine Mammal Center decided the whale had to be euthanized. 

The juvenile whale was first spotted April 2 in apparent good health in the same area, experts with the Cetacean Conservation Biology Team at the Marine Mammal Center said. 

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