Whale spotted in Willapa River in Washington

When I saw that there was a sighting of a whale, we just really wanted to get over here. It's not every day that we get a whale in the Willapa. A gray whale has somehow found its way into the Willapa River here in Pacific County. These videos showing the juvenile whale in the river near the Camp Road Bridge. Cascadia Research Collective says the whale was first spotted on Wednesday and then again in this same spot Thursday. What was your first reaction to hearing that there was a whale in the river? I thought it was April Fool's. And then I started reading the comments and I thought, okay, it's real. And of course, it makes me sad. So I'm definitely hoping that it can get back to the ocean without being harmed. Carissa Reynolds drove out here to Willapa from Chehalis Friday, binoculars in hand to see the whale. I absolutely love whales. Since I was a kid, I wanted to be a marine biologist. That love for whales running in the family. I'm in high school right now and I want to be able to go into marine biology. So yeah, I think it'd be really cool to get to see a whale out here in the river. It's not something you see every day. The whale sighting prompted Kirk Meeks and his co-workers to take the day off. Earlier today, the guys told me that there was a whale in the Willapa. So I said, let's close the shop and let's go explore a little and see if we can see it. So we've been up and down the river. Meeks with a potential sighting. And we might have seen it down here, but not a not a for sure thing. We saw some ripples in the water. The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Cascadia Research Collective searching for the whale by boat Friday. They say while the whale is thin, it is behaving normally and did not appear to be injured. I just hope that it makes it makes it out. And, you know, I'm going to keep looking for it over the weekend and see if I see it. I know it tells us after a, quote, exhaustive search of the lower Willapa, the boat team was not able to find the whale. But if you do happen to see it, experts urge you to reach out to the Fishery Service or the Cascadia Collective. Jake Holter, KGW News.