http://www.newsday.com/long-island/suffolk/study-no-reason-for-dead-whale-s-stranding-1.2550130
Study: No reason for dead whale's stranding
December 17, 2010 by MARK HARRINGTON / mark.harrington@newsday.com
Eight months after government scientists euthanized a stranded juvenile whale on the shores of East Hampton, an exhaustive postmortem found no conclusive health reason the humpback ran itself aground.
Despite earlier suggestions the whale may have stranded itself because of sickness or injury, tests found the one- to two-year-old male whale had been in "good body condition" although its stomach was largely empty, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration report. Unable to move or rehabilitate it, officials used a several toxic doses of drugs and three blasts from a .577 rifle to euthanize the whale. One toxic dart lost in the surf was never found.
"This is still a bit of a mystery to us why it happened," said Trevor Spradlin, a spokesman for NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service, adding that the agency stands by the decision to euthanize the whale, which was 30 feet long and "sinking in sand."
"The reality is it was suffering on the beach," Spradlin said. "It was slowly dying. There was no alternative."
He said fisheries officials were stung by community criticism of their efforts, and the decision to euthanize the whale, which took several attempts. "It was a very, very sad case," Spradlin said.
The report, released to Newsday after a Freedom of Information Law request, stated that "The immediate cause of death of this stranded cetacean was euthanasia resulting in cardiopulmonary collapse. Based upon gross observations, histological evaluation of tissues, environmental conditions, and ancillary diagnostics, a cause of stranding was not determined in this case."
For a windy, stormy half week in early April, federal and local fisheries officials scrambled as the 13-ton whale thrashed and rolled in heavy surf on the shores of East Hampton. Despite protests from Shinnecock Indian members and some nearby residents, officials quickly ruled out helping the whale back to sea, concluding that whales often strand themselves because of sickness or injury. The report fairly conclusively rules out either.
"There was no evidence of infectious or inflammatory disease or biotoxicosis," it states. "While, in some cases, strandings may be attributed to such causes as infectious processes, biotoxin exposure, anthropogenic activity, or age-related mortality (e.g. "natural causes") . . . the cause of [this] stranding cannot be explained as there is no evidence of significant disease or environmental changes."
Back in April, officials with the National Marine Fisheries Service, in justifying their decision to euthanize the whale rather than tow it back out to sea, suggested the humpback might have been sick.
"It would have been inhumane to push an animal back out to sea without knowing the reason why it stranded in the first place," officials said officials said in a government-released Q&A at the time. "Large whales do not strand randomly; they usually strand because something is wrong."
The report determined the whale was younger than previously believed, from one to two years old, rather than the two to five years officials indicated in April. That assessment raises questions about the claim the whale was "completely independent of its mother at the time of the stranding," the
The report reiterates earlier claims that the location and circumstances of the stranding made a rescue difficult.
"This whale was severely compromised by the stranding," the report states. "The size and mass of the whale, coupled with the environmental conditions at the time and the failure of the animal to refloat during successive tidal cycles prevented any other type of intervention."
The necropsy found the whale's right ear was fractured, likely the result of the rifle shots. It found fluid "but little solid material" in the intestine. Round worms were found around the kidneys.
"Gastric contents were minimal and while the animal did not eat while on the beach, it is not known whether feeding was inhibited immediately prior to stranding, but the good body condition suggests it had been feeding in recent weeks or months at least," the report states.
Fisheries officials, in trying to determine if a boat strike or other accident injured the whale, went so far as to ask the U.S. Navy if it had conducted any military exercises in the area around the time of the stranding, including sonar use which might have distracted the whale.
"The Navy reported no active sonar within 100 [nautical miles] and previous 72 hours," the report states.
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