EVERETT — A stranded gray whale beached off Harborview Park this morning was able to swim away when the tide came in this afternoon.
Volunteers spent hours dousing it with buckets of water and draped in a wet sheet this morning.
Biologists aren’t confident about the whale’s prognosis, saying the 40-foot whale was in poor shape. It freed itself from the sand around 1:30 p.m..
When it was beached this morning, the 40-ton creature made noises “like big sighs of relief” when neighbors began dousing it with buckets of water, said Kim Crosby, who lives nearby.
Biologists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in Seattle were on the scene by mid morning and had draped the whale in a wet sheet to keep it damp and provide protection, said Brent Norberg, regional marine mammal coordinator for the federal agency.
“The skin is quite sensitive to the sun,” he said.
About a dozen volunteers joined the biologist in a bucket brigade to pour cooling water over the whale. The effort was suspended at about 10:45 as the tide rose. People were told to stay away because there is a risk that the whale could begin thrashing about. Video of the rescue operation can be seen at KIRO 7’s website.
Anne Hagel lives near the beach and was keeping close tabs on this morning’s events.
“We’ve seen this whale for a couple of weeks now,” she said. ” We heard the blow holes all the time. It has been amazing.”
The whale’s sex and likely age were not immediately known. Likewise, why and how it wound up on the beach had not been determined.
“Sometimes whales beach themselves because they are sick or injured,” NOAA spokesman Brian Gorman said.
Chuck Crosby said he noticed the beached whale a little after 7 a.m. from his home overlooking the water. Along with wife, Kim, and son, Sam, 19, the went to the beach to see if he could help. He felt better when he saw the whale move its fin.
“We got out there and it seemed like he was crying a little bit,” Crosby said.
The whale was on its side with its head facing the beach. It reacted well when water was poured on its exposed body, making sounds that Kim Crosby said sounded like sighs of relief.
“He was really hot,” Kim Crosby said. “He would look at us and blow out his hole.”
The whale was beached just west of Harborview Park.
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