Humpback whale dies in Fort Pierce Inlet; autopsy to be performed
January 24th, 2012 by TCPalm.com
Steve McCulloch, the director of marine mammal research for Harbor Branch, walks by the 25 ft long dead humpback whale at the Fort Pierce Inlet Tuesday morning. (Eric Hasert/TCPalm)
By Elliott Jones
FORT PIERCE — Marine conservation officials are preparing to perform an outdoor autopsy on a 25-foot-long juvenile humpback whale that died overnight in the Fort Pierce Inlet.
The animal is beached in the shallows at the inlet and the officials are waiting for the tide to rise to help in moving the animal to the Fort Pierce Inlet State Park where construction equipment will be used to pull it onto a beach, said Blair Mase, a federal marine mammal stranding coordinator.
Then up to 20 people from the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute and a Sea World nonprofit group will spend several hours probing the animal to find what happened.
“Something must have been wrong for it to come to shore,” she said. “It was thin and in poor body condition.”
In Florida, the humpback whales that die usually are juveniles. Five have died along Florida’s coastline in the past five years, she said.
The whale at the Fort Pierce Inlet was alive when fisherman Vince Randolph reported finding it in the middle of the night. He and friends were flounder gigging at 10:30 p.m. on Monday in the area of Dynamite Point when they spotted something large sticking out of the water.
“We were freaking when we realized it was a whale and it was alive” in about five feet of water, Randolph said.
They alerted a U.S. Customs and Border Protection official in a passing boat and wildlife officials were called in.
But the animal expired.
“It is not common to have a fresh specimen,” Mase said. “We should be able to learn a lot from it.”
When the examination is done, the carcass is to be towed out to sea for disposal, she said.
During this time of year, humpback whales migrate southward in the ocean off Florida. The whales are a dark gray color and have large white fins.
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January 24th, 2012 at 4:05 pm
It’s a necropsy, not an autopsy. It could only be an autopsy if the body was human…or in this case, if the procedure were performed by other whales.
January 24th, 2012 at 5:48 pm
RIP whale
January 24th, 2012 at 6:37 pm
There’s gonna be a line at the Inuit all you can eat buffet in Ft. Pierce tonight.
January 25th, 2012 at 10:14 pm
I have a Sperm Whale in my pants!!
April 11th, 2012 at 6:25 am
I suppose one could fall back on that old argument “If they were left on their own, would they survive? If not, maybe they shouldn’t be kept alive.” But if that is the argument then there are a lot of us that would be dead right now. I, for one, have diabetes and have had it since 1963. By all rights, I should have been dead many years ago. It was unnatural efforts that have kept me alive this long. Medications and medical treatments. To use your argument or point of view, anyone who makes use of unnatural techniques to keep someone alive is doing a bit of wrong.
April 12th, 2012 at 4:18 pm
Awesome vid, you are a beautiful girl and look amazing with a cigarette
April 22nd, 2012 at 3:35 am
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April 24th, 2012 at 2:52 pm
Yay! Turkey and Ms.Vivian on Cock Radio? Now, that is something to be grateful about! Happy Thanksgiving!~Princess Andi~