It is most certainly the end of the fin whale’s life that washed up on the beach at Delaware Seashore State Park on Sunday morning.
At about 2:00 p.m. on Sunday, a group of about thirty people saw the whale from behind caution tape put up by the nonprofit Marine Education, Research and Rehabilitation Institute. It made no progress, though, as onlookers silently encouraged it with its tail thrashing.
According to MERR Director Suzanne Thurman, the whale is a young fin whale. Thurman claimed that even though the animal is malnourished and has been ill for a while, an autopsy is necessary before any conclusions can be drawn about what led to its beaching.
“This is a species that lives way off the coast, so they would never come in near shore, except when they get too weak to be able to surface to breathe and their instinct is to get out of the water,” she stated.
Thurman said that because the whale was out of the water on Sunday afternoon, its own body weight was already having an impact on its lungs. Her goal and those of her colleagues had been to at least calm the whale down.
“But it’s too dangerous, with the water going around her, she can roll on us and we would be killed,” Thurman stated.
According to Thurman, the 50-foot whale weights one ton per foot.
“Unless she can reposition herself so we can safely get to her to try to sedate her, we’re just gonna have to watch,” she further added.
She cautioned that it might be quite difficult for individuals to see, particularly young ones.
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“We wish so much that we could do more for her,” Thurman stated. “But she came in because she was dying.”
Along with some heavy machinery, including a backhoe, the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control had representatives present.
This fin whale was buried on the shore in Cape Henlopen State Park, which is close, after it beached itself and died in 2022.
That being said, there is no set plan for the Delaware Seashore whale. In the vicinity of the whale’s beaching, the water level reaches the top of the dunes as the tide was coming in on Sunday afternoon.
Indeed, after one of the recent storms, the ocean broke through the dunes and overflowed onto Coastal Highway.
