Defender of Mexico's Gray Whales Dies at 72 Associated Press
go to original October 27, 2013

Laguna San Ignacio - Don Pachico, the "Grandfather of Whales" (Wildcoast)

Francisco Mayoral, a noted defender of Mexico's gray whales and one of the country's earliest and most-experienced whale-watching guides, died of a stroke last week in Mexico's Baja California peninsula. He was 72.

A longtime fisherman, Mayoral became a whale guide and for four decades took researchers out to see the whales, said Serge Dedina, executive director of the conservation group Wildcoast.

Mayoral is remembered by the nicknames "Pachico" and "the grandfather of the whales." He was reputed to be the first person in the Baja coastal lagoon of San Ignacio to get close enough to touch a whale.

... "What characterized his life was his love for the whales," said environmentalist Homero Aridjis, who helped lead the battle against the salt plant.

Read the rest at Las Vegas Sun

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!