Yesterday this juvenile Humpback Whale beached itself at the famous "Main Beach" in East Hampton Village. It's quite rare for a whale to come ashore alive along Long Island and the local (the only certified organization in NYS) marine mammal rescue center (The Riverhead Foundation) was alerted. The Riverhead Foundation has stated it is likely the whale is too sick to survive, and even if it was sent back to sea, it would likely not live as it has been separated from its mother. It was a terribly sad sight to see, and many people disagree with the choice to not attempt to push it back into the ocean.
Due to the surf, size of the animal, and the animals condition, "rescuing" the whale it seems is too dangerous, and as of this afternoon, the officials were considering ways to euthanize as it could take several days for it to perish naturally.
Unfortunately I got there a few hours too late to witness members of local Indian Tribes praying and conducting ceremonies in front of the whale. Whales were instrumental in the survival of many (if not all) coastal Indian tribes, and Long Island tribes are no exception.
There were approximately 12 police officers standing around, along with a Coast Guard cutter that showed up and a few dozen spectators. I got many, many photos of the whale, some of which will appear in the Fauna gallery, some of which will appear on my
Wild Blog.
Nikon D300s 18-200mm VR @ 48mm HH
f/13
1/1000s
ISO 500
- Luke
Comments
4 commentsI really like the photo you selected to show us. It's really PJ in its story telling features.
We have most of the world's population of California gray whales passing by Kodiak twice a year (15,000+), and inevitably a few die and wash ashore. Fewer people than you're dealing with, but nonetheless and important part of the Whale Story. As populations around the world can rebound, it's going to be a more frequent occurrence.