The latest death occurred on July 7 at the Richmond Long Wharf, located about 20 miles north of San Francisco, according to The Marine Mammal Center. A dead female adult gray whale washed up adjacent to the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge after suffering from blunt force trauma by a suspected vessel strike, the organization said.

Nearly two dozen whales have died in the San Francisco Bay Area in recent months, according to animal rescue groups. A total of 19 gray whales, two unidentified baleen whales and one minke whale have died in the Bay Area region so far this year,