Rescuers on Sunday morning were hoping to save a baby humpback whale that got stranded just 20 feet from West Seattle shore, but efforts failed and the young one perished, reports say.
The 30-foot juvenile humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) was found trapped in the shallows near West Seattle's Fauntleroy Ferry dock in the wee hours of the morning on August 7.
That day, hundreds of people flocked to the ferry terminal and attempted to help in rescuing the stranded animal, according to a report from King5 News.
Unfortunately, efforts were in vain. A spokesperson from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) says that the baby humpback whale died hours later.
What Happened?
Lynne Barre, a member of NOAA's Protected Resources Division in Seattle, says the humpback whale was first reported at 8 a.m. during high tide.
Rescuers from NOAA, the West Seattle Seal Sitters, the Cascadia Research Collective and others came to the shore shortly afterward to save the whale and keep the crowds away.
Cascadia stranding coordinator Jessie Huggins and others went into the waist-deep waters to place wet blankets on the sickly animal to regulate its temperature and keep it hydrated.
As the tide went out, however, the baby whale slowly perished, says Huggins.
Scientists have yet to determine the cause of the animal's death, but tissue samples have been taken. The young one's carcass was covered with "whale lice," an indication of poor health, investigators say.
Meanwhile, Huggins says officials were unlikely to decide whether to tow the mammal to another place for a full necropsy or the tissue samples taken would suffice for an investigation.
"There are lots of logistics involved in doing an examination," says Huggins.
Barre says it is not uncommon to see humpback whales in Puget Sound because the population has grown over the past few years.
Even so, NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service recommends that some segments of the whale population in the Northwest Pacific should be listed as threatened.
Barre says sightings of humpback whales have become less unusual than they used to be, but it is still unusual to find live whales get stranded.
In June, a 35-foot humpback whale was found dead in the Bremerton ferry, but a full necropsy did not help disclose the reason for its death.
In 2010, another dead whale was towed from the shores of West Seattle. Scientists still have no conclusive explanation the cause of death.
Troubled humpback whales also turn up in other parts of the United States. In November last year, marine experts tried to free a humpback whale that was stuck in a commercial fishing line.
