The Nation : Barge Joining Efforts to Rescue Whales

A National Guard helicopter headed for Alaska with an icebreaking barge to help save three California gray whales trapped in Arctic ice, about 7 miles from open water. Eskimo hunters, members of the Greenpeace environmental group, oil company agents and military and government representatives were cooperating in the effort to free the whales from the ice near Point Barrow, the northernmost part of the United States. Meanwhile, workers used chain saws to keep open air holes in the ice. The whales waited too long before beginning their migration south, and biologist Geoff Carroll said they “don’t look very good. They’re pretty battered around the heads and jaws, and one seems lethargic. This has to be wearing them down.”