A fin whale that stranded at Delaware Seashore State Park Sunday morning is likely dying.
A crowd of about 30 people viewed the whale from behind a caution tape put up by the nonprofit Marine Education, Research and Rehabilitation Institute around 2 p.m. Sunday. He swatted his tail as people silently urged him on, but made no progress.
The whale is a young fin whale, MERR director Suzanne Thurman told the crowd. It is emaciated and has been sick for a long time, Thurman said, but there is no way of knowing what caused it to become stranded unless an autopsy can be performed.
“This is a species that lives far offshore, so they would never come close to shore unless they become too weak to breathe to the surface and their instinct is to get out of the water,” she said.
By Sunday afternoon, the whale’s lungs were already being damaged by its own body weight from being out of the water, Thurman said. She and her colleagues had hoped to at least tranquilize the whale.
“But it’s too dangerous, because the water is flowing around her, she could roll over us and we would be killed,” Thurman said.
The 50-foot-long whale weighs 1 ton per foot, Thurman said.
“Unless she can reposition herself so we can get to her safely to sedate her, we’ll just have to watch,” she continued.
She warned that it could be very difficult for people to witness, especially children.
“We so wish we could do more for her,” Thurman said. “But she came in because she was dying.”
Representatives from the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control were on scene, along with heavy equipment such as an excavator. When another fin whale stranded and died at nearby Cape Henlopen State Park in 2022, it was buried on the beach there.
However, there is no definitive plan for the Delaware Seashore whale. The tide came in on Sunday afternoon and in the area where the whale beached, the water reaches all the way to the dunes. During a recent storm, the ocean even broke through the dunes and overflowed onto the Coastal Highway.
Delaware Online/The News Journal will share new information as it becomes available.
Shannon Marvel McNaught reports from Southern Delaware and beyond. Reach her at smcnaught@gannett.com or on Twitter @MarvelMcNaught.
This article originally appeared in Delaware News Journal: Stranded fin whale at Delaware Seashore State Park likely dies
