Humpback Whale washes up Nantucket, Massachusetts "UPDATE"

This humpback whale washed up on Smith’s Point in Madaket on Saturday. For more photos,

check out the I&M’s Facebook page. Photo by Jim Powers

By Jason Graziadei

I&M Senior Writer

(July 16, 2011)

A dead humpback whale washed up on Smith’s Point on Saturday, attracting crowds of beachgoers eager to get a look at the massive marine mammal.

The whale, nearly 40-feet long, was first spotted Saturday morning and is located several hundred yards west of the end of Massachusetts Avenue in Madaket.

Kerry McNally, a biologist with the New England Aquarium, said a team from its rescue and rehab department was planning to travel to Nantucket by Monday to perform a necropsy on the animal.

“We’ve been having some of our field volunteers collect pictures, and we’ll try to secure it, basically anchor it, so hopefully on Monday we can be down to do a necropsy and examine it further,” McNally said.

Based on the pictures she had seen, McNally confirmed the animal was a humpback whale, but said she could not determine its age, sex or how it died until a full evaluation is performed. She urged beachgoers not to touch the whale.

“It’s pretty decomposed and bloated, and people should definitely keep their distance,” McNally said. “Marine mammals harbor pathogens, and we don’t want people getting sick. Even though it’s dead, it’s still a violation of the Marine Mammal Protection Act to handle a deceased marine mammal, especially an endangered species like the humpback.”

It is the second whale to wash up on Smith’s Point in less than a month,

after a smaller pilot whale stranded there in June.

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Humpback whale’s tail mutilated before body could be removed from Nantucket Beach

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July 18, 2011

                                                    Jen Halloran For The Boston Globe

This photo shows the humpback whale this weekend before the corpse was mutilated.

 By Amanda Cedrone , Globe Correspondent

The body of an adult humpback whale, which was discovered on a Nantucket Island beach this weekend, was mutilated making it impossible for scientists to discover why it died, said Tony LaCasse, media relations director for the New England Aquarium.

The young adult humpback whale was discovered on Saturday morning, and left on the beach while personnel and resources prepared for the necropsy originally set for today. Last night, during a security check on the whale, Nantucket police discovered someone had nearly cut through the whale’s tail, but failed in their attempt to completely remove it.

New England Aquarium biologists believe the person apparently used a knife to attack the corpse because the resulting incision was precise.

Dead whales are normally transported by their tails, and because the tail was so badly damaged, authorities were unable to move the whale before unusually high surf arrived — and the whale was reclaimed by the sea, LaCasse said.

The whale was about 36 feet long and weighed between 30 and 35 tons.

Erica Livingston is renting a house on Rhode Island Avenue on Nantucket, which is located a short walk from Smith’s Point. She photographed the whale before it had been mutilated.

“I went down to the beach because I knew he was there,” Livingston said n a telephone interview. “I went to photograph his tail, it was a beautiful tail.”

It is not unusual for parts of whale carcasses to disappear, LaCasse added. Sperm whales, for example, are often found with their jaws missing, because their teeth are highly prized in some areas.

However, someone attempting to take the tail of a humpback whale is far less common.

“For someone to take a tail from a humpback whale, that’s an unusual one,” said LaCasse. “We’re a little puzzled.”

Mutilating a whale, dead or alive, is a serious federal crime with fines up to $25,000 for violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act and $50,000 for violating the Endangered Species Act.

“It would be very challenging to find the person who did it,” said Kate Sampson, sea turtle stranding coordinator at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “There’s really no evidence left at the scene of the crime.”

 The whale could have died for a number of reasons, Sampson said, including predation, entanglement, being struck by a vessel, or something internal, such as a disease. She said the mutilation means scientists will not be able to learn if the whale died due to health issues.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Northeast USA Marine Mammal & Sea Turtle Stranding & Entanglement Hotline at 866-755-6622.

boston.com

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