A fin whale that washed up Sunday morning at Delaware Seashore State Park is likely dying.
A crowd of about 30 people watched the whale from behind warning tape erected by the nonprofit Institute of Marine Education, Research and Rehabilitation around 2 p.m. Sunday. He wagged his tail as people gently pushed him, but he made no progress.
The whale is a juvenile fin whale, MERR Director Suzanne Thurman told the crowd. He has been emaciated and ill for a long time, Thurman said, but there is no way to know what caused him to wash up unless an autopsy can be performed.
“This is a species that lives far from the coast, so it never comes close to the shore, except when it becomes too weak to be able to breathe on the surface and its instinct is to get out of the water ” she said.
By Sunday afternoon, the whale’s lungs were already affected by its own weight because it was out of the water, according to Thurman. She and her colleagues had hoped to at least put the whale to sleep.
“But it’s too dangerous, with the water around it, it can roll over us and we would be killed,” Thurman said.
The 50-foot whale weighs 1 ton per foot, Thurman said.
“Unless she can reposition herself so we can reach her safely to try to sedate her, we’ll just have to monitor,” she continued.
She warned that it could be very difficult for people to witness, especially children.
“We so wish we could do more for her,” Thurman said. “But she came because she was dying.”
Representatives from the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control were on site, along with some heavy equipment, such as a backhoe. When another fin whale stranded and died at nearby Cape Henlopen State Park in 2022, it was buried there on the beach.
However, for the Delaware Seashore whale, there is no specific plan. The tide was rising Sunday afternoon, and in the area where the whale washed up, the water is rising up to the dunes. In fact, during a recent storm, the ocean washed over the dunes and onto the coastal road.
Delaware Online/The News Journal will share new information as it becomes available.
Shannon Marvel McNaught reports from southern Delaware and beyond. Contact her at [email protected] or on Twitter @MarvelMcNaught.
This article was originally published in the Delaware News Journal:
