U.S.

This 30-Foot Whale Has Beached Itself in Breezy Point

Because apparently Breezy Point hasn't had enough of its sad images this year, the Sandy-struck New York community discovered this poor guy Wednesday morning.

By Alexander Abad-Santos
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Update, Thursday, 11:20 a.m.: Looks like we lost the big guy.

Update, 3:59 p.m.: We wish this story turned out differently, but the rescue efforts to save the whale have stopped. Rescuers say there's no more they can do the rescue the mammal. "Riverhead officials are no longer making efforts to save the whale, and are developing a plan to assist in the animal's death ... The plan is expected take as long as 24 hours, in which time the tide could take the whale out to sea, though the animal's size would likely prevent that from happening" reports  DNAinfo's Paul DeBenedetto, citing statements from wildlife officials.

Original post: Because apparently Breezy Point hasn't had enough of its sad images this year, the Sandy-struck New York community discovered this poor guy Wednesday morning. The whale, believed to be a humpback  according to a representative at the New Jersey Fish and Wilflife Endangered and Nongame Species program, is believed to be a fin whale. It's still alive but needs lots of human help to get back to the sea. "Emergency-service responders from the police and fire departments were spraying water on the animal and awaiting the arrival of marine-mammal stranding experts from the Riverhead Foundation on Long Island," reports The New York Times's Daniella Silva. The whale was spotted on Beach 216th Street and Palmer Place shortly before 11 a.m., which is odd, since that location is right along the bay, and not even on the open side of Breezy Point (see map above). Breezy Point came to national prominence as one of the New York City neighborhoods hit hardest by Hurricane Sandy. We'll keep you updated on the status of the whale as more reports come in.
This article is from the archive of our partner The Wire.