This week, a stray beluga whale came up the Delaware River as far as Trenton, NJ. Belugas generally live up in the North Atlantic around Newfoundland, so this one was really out of its territory. New Jersey sent out some wildlife specialists to check the whale out. They determinded that it was a old male loner who was taking a journey and maybe took a wrong turn, or just got hungry and figured that river fish was better than nothing. For now, the whale seems healthy, so the State is gonna leave it alone. But they wonder if it’s gonna hold up OK in non-salty river water (I wouldn’t call it “fresh water”; this is New Jersey, after all).

I can sympathize with that whale. That’s the way that life sometimes goes. You take a journey, look for interesting new horizons, and sometimes you find your true home. But sometimes you wind up on your own, far from a friendly and supportive environment.

I hope the beluga eventually finds what he is looking for and what he needs (salty water with plenty of oxygen and plenty of fish, nice temperatures, other whales like him, no boats to cut him up — he already has a propeller scar on his back). New Jersey is a tough environment for non-aggressive creatures like whales. And for non-aggressive people, too.

FOLLOW UP — HAPPY ENDING (we think): Helis the beluga went south the other day, and they think he made it OK back to the ocean, where he belongs. So maybe NJ wasn’t so bad on him. He probably got his fill of shad and herring and decided to move on. New Jersey officials did a good job in keeping anyone from messing with him. All right, sometimes you can do OK in Jersey; so long as you know when to get out.