With 5 new gray whale deaths in recent days, Bay Area on pace for one of deadliest years

Five gray whales have died in the San Francisco Bay Area region in the past week or so, bringing that unfortunate number to more than a dozen this year, the California Academy of Sciences said Wednesday.

The causes of death for all five whales have yet to be determined by the San Francisco-based Academy of Sciences and its partners at the Marin Headlands-based Marine Mammal Center.