Beaked whale washed ashore Pensacola Beach Monday. How did it get there?
A whale was found beached on Pensacola Beach Monday afternoon.
The whale, which was identified as a beaked whale, was removed from the beach with the assistance of the Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge.
Michelle Pettis, director of animal care at ECWR, said that they received a report about a whale that was swimming close to shore about a week ago. ECWR monitored the situation but didn’t observe the whale.
Around 7:30 a.m. Monday morning, they received another report that a beached whale had been discovered on the Gulf side of the beach, around Tristan Towers.
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Pettis said that they worked in coordination with the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office and the Escambia County Public Works department to remove the animal and transport it to the ECWR facilities.
ECWR is working to find out what happened to the whale.
“They do beach themselves, typically, with a purpose,” said Pettis. “Beaching and straining themselves typically indicates that the animal is sick or injured.”
There were no physical signs indicating why the beaked whale beached itself.
The ECWR will conduct a necropsy Tuesday to identify how the whale died.
Before the necropsy, the ECWR believed that this particular species was a Blainesville beaked whale. They measured it at about 12 feet long, weighing a little over 1,600 pounds.
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, even when dead, many species of beaked whales are difficult to distinguish from one another because they lack easily discernible or apparent physical characteristics.
Not the first beached whale in the area
In 2019, a rare beaked whale subspecies was found washed up on the beach on Gulf Islands National Seashore, just east of Navarre Beach.
The whale was a species of beaked whale, which is typically a deep-ocean whale and very rarely seen close to the Gulf Coast, according to Britany Baldrica, Emerald Coast Wildlife Refuge Marine Mammal Stranding Team coordinator.
The whale was alive when it beached itself but died shortly after rescuers arrived on scene.
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: Beaked whale died and washed ashore Pensacola Beach Monday
