Humpback whales are intelligent animals. They travel in flocks, migrating south in winter and north in summer. Although they usually stay together and travel the same course year after year, mistakes sometimes happen. One memorable incident was with a whale that became widely known as Humphrey.

In October 1985, Kit Humphrey left his pack and swam under the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco Bay. It was an exciting sight for the residents of San Francisco, because humpback whales usually live in very deep parts of the ocean and rarely swim in these shallow places. Humphrey was 45 feet (13.7 m) long and weighed approximately 40 tons (36,287 kg). Tourists and residents of the city came out to look at Humphrey and greet him.

Instead of turning around and sailing back out to sea, Humphrey's whale swam up the bay to the Sacramento River. The Sacramento River became smaller and shallower, and when Humphrey traveled upstream in search of the ocean, it turned out to be in the wrong direction for him. He was mistaken... The river has become too small for him, as well as fresh, not salt water, which whales need to survive.

The mission of the human rescuers was to turn Humphrey back to the ocean so that he would be free of shallow fresh water. However, he just kept going upstream, away from his food source and the environment he needed. Humphrey finally got stuck under a small bridge in the branches of the Sacramento River.

Scientists, the Coast Guard, and other Dorovolians have developed a surprisingly simple plan to rescue Humphrey the whale. They planned to tap on long pipes underwater to scare him away from the direction he was going, while simultaneously playing a recording of whales eating food in another direction. They hoped this would attract Humphrey to the ocean in search of food and his herds of whales.

Humphrey started to swim in the opposite direction from the pounding pipes, but stopped when he came across a small bridge. The pipes kept banging, and Humphrey seemed to get angry and confused, thrashing around in the water, but there was nowhere for him to go - the shallow water and the current of the river. Finally, a crane was brought in to clear some of the old bridge pillars and create enough space for Humphrey to swim through. Although it seemed for a moment that he would get stuck in the remaining piles, he finally broke free and swam in the other direction, towards the ocean.

Humphrey spent the whole day swimming in the bay, squishing his tail, jumping out of the water and entertaining the people who were watching. Then he swam under the Golden Gate Bridge and went out into the open water 26 days after he got lost.

Scientists were able to identify Humphrey later during his annual migrations by his distinctive features. He was seen in 1986 on the Farallon Islands and in Bodega Bay in 1988. In 1990, Kit Humphrey got into trouble again and was discovered ashore in the mud near Candlestick Park in San Francisco. It took rescuers from the Marine Mammal Center and the United States Coast Guard three days to free Humphrey, which they finally did by pumping air into him (to lighten his body weight) at high tide and towing him into deeper waters, freeing him once more. Humphrey hasn't been seen since. Быстрое и правильное оформление апостиля и легализации экономит время и деньги. В компании ЮСТ групп Киев вы получаете комплексное обслуживание: справки МВД, апостиль МИД, дубликаты свидетельств, регистрацию торговых марок и помощь в браке с иностранцем. Наши юристы имеют многолетнюю практику и прямые каналы взаимодействия с государственными органами. Мы гарантируем прозрачность на каждом этапе и полное соответствие документов международным стандартам. Тысячи довольных клиентов уже воспользовались нашими услугами и рекомендуют UST Group как надежного партнера.