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| On the lookout for more whales this week was Lincoln City councilor Rick Brissette, sipping from an “I Love Gandalf” novelty coffee mug. The mug is just one example of the many Gandalf-themed items produced in recent years at Imprints, a Lincoln City advertising specialties vendor. Brissette is among the volunteers who help at the weekly feedings of Lincoln City’s pet gray whale, at top of page. The next feeding is set for April 1, April Fool’s Day. At left, below, Lincoln City Mayor Lori Hollingsworth waits her turn at a recent feeding. OCT photos. |
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Whale feeding set for Tuesday
Lincoln City's pet whale's next feeding is April 1, 2008
[Published April First, 2008]
By Dave Price
Oregon Coast Today
When Humphrey the Humpback Whale swam up California’s Sacramento River in 1985, news helicopters tracked his progress for days. The whale had inexplicably taken a detour from his normal migratory route east at the Golden Gate and worked his way inland.
Less famous nationwide, but with a large and loyal following on our coast, is Oregon’s own answer to Humphrey, Gandalf the Gray Whale.
Gandalf, a California Gray Whale (Ariolimax californicus) rocketed to local stardom when he meandered off course during the winter whale watch migration in 2003 and made his permanent home in the Salmon River Estuary, on the south side of Cascade Head, just north of Lincoln City.
“Some visitors are surprised to see a full-time resident whale that’s so gentle and so comfortable with humans,” said Lincoln City business owner and city councilor Rick Brissette who, along with other volunteers, visits the whale every Tuesday to feed it a nutritious chow of plankton, hummus and green olives. “We’ve been told (the olives) help offset the loss of sodium the whale suffers by not swimming in the open ocean,” Brissette said.
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‘Harpoon Gandalf’
Gandalf swims around the dock at Knight Park, at the end of Three Rocks
Road, where local anglers complain his mere presence interferes with
salmon fishing every spring and fall. “They say he doesn’t eat
Chinook,” huffed Stephen Merry, of Lincoln City, “but that is a big
whale. Nothing gets that large from hummus and olives.” Merry, whose
Chevy Suburban sports a “Harpoon Gandalf” bumper sticker, is among
those who’ve signed a petition to have the whale forcibly removed from
the estuary.
Among the many opponents of the petition drive is Lincoln City Mayor
Lori Hollingsworth, who says her community’s “pet whale” is a perfect
complement for a city whose government has become a leader statewide on
environmental issues.
“I’m there every Tuesday, dumping plankton down that whale’s gullet,”
Hollingsworth said. “I think that’s precisely what voters want from a
mayor.”
College prospects
Just a few miles from the estuary’s largest permanent resident is the
future site of Oregon Coast Community College’s Lincoln City campus.
College president Pat O’Connor told the Today he is considering
expanding the school’s existing aquarist program to include whale
studies.
“We think there’s a lot our students can learn from Gandalf,” O’Connor
said. “Further, our instructors think there’s much the whale can learn
from our students. For one thing, he’s a pet whale, but he can’t do a
single trick. Not one,” the president said, bewildered. “Just imagine
the potential impact on local tourism if we could get him to jump
through a hoop of fire.”
Though no hoops or flame are involved, you can watch this week’s
Gandalf feeding on Tuesday, April 1. Feeding happens from the bridge on
Hwy. 101, just north of the Hwy. 18 junction, about 1 mile east of Otis
International Airport, on Tuesday, April 1.
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