Washington State Parks rangers discovered a dead whale in the surf in Grayland due west of the Grayland Beach Approach Road on Monday morning, July 29.
Word soon spread and hundreds of people have since gone to the beach to see the giant leviathan, some getting what scientists say is a little too close and personal.
They caution that any marine mammal – living or dead — can carry disease or bacteria that are natural in the environment but that can be transmitted to humans. People who see dead marine mammals are well-advised to “take pictures, but don’t touch.”
Cause of death
On Tuesday, scientists from Cascadia Research Collective examined the 35-foot whale and determined that it was a mature female that had calved within the past year. The group performed a necropsy and removed a variety of samples for laboratory study.
According to Cascadia research biologist Jessie Huggins, the cause of death appears to be blunt force trauma, most likely as a result of contact with a seagoing vessel.
Skeleton to aquarium
By agreement with State Parks, Marc and Kathryn and Myrsell, owners/operators of the Westport Aquarium, have taken responsibility for the disposal of the whale and received permission from NOAA to retain the skeleton for display in their aquarium on Harbor Avenue in Westport’s Marina District.
Their project will be a huge one — no pun intended. The Myrsells and enlisted volunteers will first strip the flesh from the bones and bury it, along with the giant mammal’s internal organs, on the beach above the tideline.
“We’ll then further clean the bones, rearticulate them and display them in the aquarium to be used as an educational tool,” Marc Myrsell said on Tuesday. The entire project is expected to take at least a month.
Marine mammal assists
Since purchasing the aquarium building and business in 2009, the couple has been very actively involved as volunteers for various government agencies and organizations dedicated to the preservation of marine life, particularly the Northwest Marine Mammal Stranding Network.
Report sightings
Anyone who comes upon a dead or stranded marine mammal on the beach should call the NOAA Stranding Hotline at 1-800-853-1964. The line is monitored 24 hours a day. Workers there will put you in touch with the correct agency for any particular animal in any specific area.