Officials reported on Monday March 10th that a sperm whale that washed up on the beach off the Florida city of Venice had perished despite efforts to save it.
On Monday, officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration intend to conduct a necropsy, autopsy, on the 44-foot-long, roughly 70,000-pound male whale.
Laura Engleby, Chief of the Marine Mammal Branch of NOAA’s, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Southeast Regional Office, stated at a news conference on Monday that heavy equipment needed to help pull the whale onto the beach for the necropsy is being awaited by a multi agency team that includes Mote Marine Lab, the Florida Fish, Wildlife Conservation Commission, and NOAA.
According to local police, Service Club Park in Venice, where numerous agencies rushed to the stranded whale, is still closed. On Monday, the city declared that swimming was not advised in the areas south of Venice Beach.
According to Engleby, the beached whale wasn’t in good health because he was quite thin and pretty close to the coast. The group will look at the factors that led to the whale’s eventual demise.
Before tissue and organ samples are sent to labs for investigation, experts will measure, photograph, and examine the whale internally, according to Engleby. She also mentioned that while some results from the necropsy would be known immediately, others might not be known until several months.
