DEAD WHALE
© WGMD/Walt Palmer
Officials say a 50-foot endangered fin whale found stranded along the Delaware coast has died. The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control said in a Facebook post Friday that scientists were taking measurements and samples of the whale, which would then be buried in a trench on the beach.

Biologists monitoring the whale say it "seems to be struggling," according to the MERR Institute. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is working with partners in the region to develop a response plan "which includes options for palliative care, sedation, or euthanasia."

The whale first showed up in Lewes on Thursday, stranded on a sandbar. It was able to swim back out to sea but later became beached on the ocean side of The Point at Cape Henlopen State Park, where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean.


Source: AP