Dead Humpback Whale Towed From Linnell Landing

BREWSTER – Staff with the International Fund for Animal Welfare on Saturday responded to a deceased humpback whale that had washed up near the shore of Linnell Landing Beach.

 Andrea Spence, an on-call technician with IFAW’s marine mammal rescue team, said Sunday that IFAW received a report of the dead mammal Saturday morning. 

 “At that point, our team was deployed to do a sort of external exam,” she said. “They were taking measurements, photographs, a few skin samples, things like that.”

 In a follow up email, IFAW spokesperson Stacey Hedman said the whale was a 34-foot juvenile female  identified as "Firebolt" and weighing approximately 26,000 pounds.

 Spence said solar buoys were attached to the whale’s fin and tail to anchor it in place until the whale could be towed away for necropsy Sunday morning. An IFAW boat arrived just after 11 a.m. 

Hedman in her email said that the whale was transported to a "secure location" Monday, where the necropsy was performed.

"She was in good body condition with signs of soft tissue trauma that are being further analyzed," she said.

 The whale drew a steady stream of spectators to the beach Sunday morning, including Katie Daubert, who came from Plymouth to see the whale along with her friend, Kristin Bresciani of Dennis.

 “It’s sad, it’s very sad,” said Daubert, who said she first heard about the dead whale through social media.

 According to NOAA Fisheries, there has been an “elevated” number of humpback whale deaths, prompting deaths of the species to be categorized as “unusual mortality events” since April 2017 under the Marine Mammal Protection Act. The agency specifically cites an increase in deaths specifically along the Atlantic coast from Maine to Florida over that period.

 Causes of past humpback deaths have include fishing line entanglements and ship strikes, Spence said.

 “But of course there could be other reasons as well. Failure to thrive, infectious disease, things like that. But we won’t know until the necropsy is finished,” she said.

Spence said it could be months before a cause of death is determined for the deceased whale.