The cold winter storm brought an unlikely visitor ashore in Atlantic City last week. A 30-foot humpback whale washed up dead on the Chelsea Avenue beach amid the rough surf. The Marine Mammal Standing center was called in, who tested samples of the tissue to determine if it had any diseases. The whale was buried in the sand because its remains are too big to move.
“The city went down and pulled it up out of the surf. We really couldn’t go into the surf to try to do anything with it because it was too dangerous,” said Sheila Dean, co-director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center. “We have to bury it right where it is because it’s 25 tons, so it’s not easy to move it,” Dean said.
Once considered an endangered species in the 1970s, humpback whales have become more common on the Jersey Shore.
Another dead humpback whale was found on a Strathmere beach just a few weeks ago. The 30-foot 20-ton whale appeared to be dead when it washed ashore, which was spotted by a surfer. The cause of death of both whales have not yet been determined.
