Beachgoers came across a sick, 51-foot-long whale that washed up on a beach outside Los Angeles on Saturday night and died quickly, authorities said.
The fin whale, the world’s second-largest cetacean, was reportedly stranded on the water’s edge in Torrance Beach, California, around 6 p.m. and appeared to be in distress.
Rescue workers and animal experts struggled the next day to perform a necropsy on the whale and push it back into the water in front of a crowd of curious onlookers.
“The fact that this fin whale is stranded here means that this animal is critically ill and sick. It passed away an hour ago,” said John Warner of the Marine Mammal Care Centre. He told KTLA on Saturday.
The whale, initially thought to be about 40 feet long, had skin ridges that are unusual for its type of marine mammal, but a cause of death has not been determined, officials said.
Veterinarian Tammy da Costa Gomes said: He told ABC 7 LA There was no evidence that the young whales had died as a result of entanglement or being struck by boats.
Biologists spent Sunday morning dissecting the approximately five-tonne sea creature.
“That will help us understand why it died, why it washed up on the shore, and then we can perform an autopsy and then move it offshore,” Los Angeles County Fire Chief Brian Murphy said. He told KTLA on Sunday.
“If we transport this offshore, the hope is that it will sink and nourish the ecosystem on the seabed.”
The crowd roared in amazement as two tractors pulled the carcass from the water’s edge onto the beach, where biologists examined it. Murphy said an old fire hose was wrapped around the tail to stop it getting cut off.
“I think it’s pretty crazy,” one beachgoer told KTLA. “It’s weird.”
“It’s sad,” said another woman. “When we heard about this earlier this morning we thought we’d go and have a look as we live nearby but it makes us sad to find out what happened. It’s part of life. These things happen.”
The whale was later removed at around 2pm, but lifeguards warned tourists to continue swimming with caution.
