ANOTHER Whale Has Showed Up In Montreal

The suspected appearance of yet another whale in Montreal has left experts baffled. After a minke whale settled near Île-Sainte-Hélène, the Réseau Québécois d’Urgences pour les Mammifères Marins (RQUMM) reports a second animal has been spotted in the river near the city's Maisonneuve neighbourhood.

RQUMM members have been sent to the area to try to locate it. In a press release, the organization said it could be the same small whale that's been seen passing Trois-Rivières and Varennes in recent days.

"This second observation is even more surprising than the first," Robert Michaud, scientific director of the Groupe de Recherche et d’éducationsur les mammifères marins (GREMM), said in the release.

"The presence of a minke whale in this section of the river is already a rare event in itself. This second animal raises questions for which we have no clear answers at this time, hence the importance of carefully documenting these cases."

If confirmed, this would be the third whale to travel hundreds of kilometres upriver to Montreal since 2020, when a female humpback whale surprised the world with its journey inland.

Its breaches near the Old Port dazzled onlookers and its tragic death, possibly as the result of a collision with a ship, left Montrealers devastated.

The minke whale was first seen on May 8. The RQUMM immediately alerted ship pilots to its presence and says it sends updates as its position changes.

The organization added that the arrival of a second whale does not change its action plan. Though the whales will be monitored, there will not be interventions to turn the whales around. They'll have to decide to do that on their own.