Emergency personnel and biologists came to the aid of an emaciated 60-foot whale that washed up on a beach in the Breezy Point section of Queens on Wednesday morning and are considering euthanizing the animal if it remains on the shore.
“Based on the body condition [of the whale], it’s likely not to survive,” says Mendy Gerron, a mammal-stranding response coordinator with the National Marine Fisheries Service. If the whale is still on the beach and alive tomorrow morning euthanasia is “something we could consider to be humane,” Ms. Gerron says.
Law-enforcement officials said responders had been spraying water over the animal to keep it breathing. The water was turned off in the afternoon as the tide came in. Members of the NYPD’s Emergency Service Unit, Harbor Unit and SCUBA team gathered at the scene around 10:30 a.m., and officials from the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation on Long Island have been guiding the effort.
Officials from the Riverhead Foundation said the whale, a finback, appears severely emaciated and ill, making its prospects for survival slim. The whale has been cordoned from onlookers on the Rockaways, a peninsula that was hard hit by superstorm Sandy in late October. After checking the animal’s condition and behavior, responders determined the whale was a “very skinny” young adult, according to Ms. Gerron. She said New York experiences a handful of large whale strandings every year, although the animals are usually already dead when they wash up on shore.
The whale will be monitored overnight and is also likely to be guarded by a law enforcement official, says Ms. Gerron. The finback whale is an endangered species.
Responders will consult with veterinarians to decide Thursday morning whether or not to euthanize the whale. The experience of being beached is “very stressful” for whales, which can become crushed by their own weight, according to Ms. Gerron. Often they aren’t healthy enough to survive being floated back to sea.
The size and weight of the whale — estimated to be between 40 and 80 tons — will also make disposal of the animal a challenge if it is chemically euthanized, says Ms. Gerron. The whale cannot be buried or floated back to sea due to environmental concerns, and the agencies involved will have to investigate disposal methods, such as trying to find a landfill to accept the remains.
