NEWPORT BEACH (CNS) – A dead juvenile humpback whale that washed up in Newport Beach has been sucked back into the ocean, a lifeguard captain reported Friday morning.
Lifeguards were considering using a boat to tow the 10-ton carcass back out to sea, but Friday morning it was gone from where the dead 17-foot whale came ashore near 11th Street about 1:45 p.m. Wednesday , according to Glenn Gray, CEO of the Pacific Marine Mammal Center, which sent experts to take tissue and blood samples from the carcass in the hope of figuring out what killed it.
Gray said he and other experts were not able to scrutinize the entire whale because of its position on the water’s edge, but initial observations showed no evidence of a boat strike or entanglement.
Strong surf amid stormy weather prevented any effort to pull the sea mammal back into the ocean, and as of Thursday it was still being pushed onto the sand by waves.
Options for disposal usually involve towing the carcass far enough out that the sharks it will attract don’t endanger swimmers and surfers or cutting it up and burying it in the sand to decompose.
Gray said a preliminary assessment and a necropsy to determine what killed the sub-adult whale would be conducted, with samples sent to labs for testing.
While boat strikes and entanglements are the most common causes of whale injuries, other possibilities include ingestion of food contaminated by toxic algae bloom, although such conditions have not been observed locally, he said.
Another possibility is ingestion of plastic, or a disease, Gray said.
A captain with the Newport Beach Lifeguard Operations Division said that if and when the carcass is located, it could be towed further out for the sake of swimmers and wave riders.
A whale that washed up in Orange County about 10 years ago had to be cut up to remove it from where it came ashore near a popular surf break, according to the Orange County Register.
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