Huge whale found beached on Washington coast
Jun 13, 2013, 4:03 PM | Updated: 6:57 pm
Researchers are trying to determine what killed a huge whale found beached Thursday along the Washington Coast.(Image courtesy North Coast News)
(Image courtesy North Coast News)
A police deputy patrolling the beaches near Ocean Shores made a unique discovery Thursday, the carcass of a huge dead whale.
The 58-foot Fin whale was found about four miles north of Ocean Shores.
“It’s probably been dead for several weeks, it’s definitely not fresh,” says Jesse Huggins with Cascadia Research.
Experts with the organization and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife spent the day examining the carcass.
Huggins says it appears the whale was killed by a collision with a large ship.
“Usually blunt force trauma in this type of animal is caused by a vessel collision but we can’t be entirely certain.”
While whale strandings are fairly common on the Washington coast, Fin whales are much rarer because they tend to stay much farther off shore than other species and sink when they die rather than washing up.
