Whale found on Jupiter Island dies, Florida

October 16, 2011

Staff reports

A 9- to 10-foot-long whale that came ashore Wednesday morning on Jupiter Island died after numerous attempts to save it.

Plans were to take the whale to Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute in Fort Pierce for a necropsy, to determine the cause of death.

Ted Gonzales, Jupiter Island Public Safety Director, said the whale washed up about 10:20 a.m. in the area of the 100 block of North Beach Road.

“It was just taking a beating in the shoreline,” Gonzales said. “Rolling in the heavy surf and getting sandblasted like it was.”

Officials tied a rope to the whale and a Martin County Sheriff’s Office boat pulled the creature back into the ocean shortly before several officials from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission arrived.

Tom Reinert, Fish and Wildlife research administrator, said he thought the creature was a pygmy sperm whale or a dwarf sperm whale.

Reinert and other wildlife officials came to the Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge where the creature was about 100 to 200 yards offshore.

tcpalm.com

Fair Use: Educational