Minke whale studied, then buried on Truro beach

By Mary Ann Bragg
Posted Jul 22, 2019

NORTH TRURO — Following an on-site necropsy, the minke whale carcass found Friday at Beach Point was buried Monday afternoon in a large hole just above the high tide line.

Scientists took samples from each organ hoping to determine a cause of death, after the necropsy provided few clues.

“It was a pretty decomposed whale, so we were pretty limited in the exam that we could do but it went without incident,” said Kristy Volker, assistant necropsy coordinator for the International Fund for Animal Welfare, which has a federal permit to respond to marine mammal strandings on Cape Cod.

Minke whales along the Atlantic coast from Maine to South Carolina are undergoing an unusual mortality event (UME) that began in 2017. Since then 59 deaths have been documented, including 19 along the Massachusetts shores, the most in one state. The designation of a UME by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration releases more money for research into the causes of the deaths. So far, NOAA funding has allowed scientists to determine through full or partial necropsy results that some of the minke whales have died due to human interactions or infectious diseases.

Minke whales are protected under the federal Marine Mammal Protection Act but are not considered endangered or threatened.

Within about three hours on Monday, the IFAW staff and volunteers had collected 30 to 40 samples from the female carcass, and what remained were large, indistinguishable lumps of flesh and bone, and a strong smell of decay. The fresh organ samples are sent to a histopathologist to analyze for signs of disease or trauma, with answers expected back within two to three months. Some samples are frozen for future use such as to study life history or look at possible viruses, parasites, contaminants or biotoxins, Volker said.

The animal was a “sub-adult” at 23 feet long, according to an IFAW spokeswoman. Generally, minke whales can grow up to 35 feet, live for up to 50 years and weigh up to 20,000 pounds.

By around 1 p.m. Monday, a town public works staff member used a backhoe to dig a hole on the beach near 674 Route 6A, where the carcass had beached. The backhoe then transferred the remains of the carcass into the hole, layered with sand. As the full spine of the whale was lifted into the air, the characteristic tail fluke remained the one visual reminder of what creature had died.

“Poor thing,” said Roberta Robillard, of East Bridgewater, as the burial was underway. Robillard’s family vacations in North Truro every summer and she has walked down to the beach to see the carcass.

“I love nature,” she said. “I love whales, and it would probably never happen again in my lifetime, that I would get to see something like this. I’ve seen them out in the ocean but not passed away.”

The floating carcass was first reported to the Center for Coastal Studies staff in Provincetown by a recreational boater. The center’s staff then alerted IFAW. The whale likely died within the last week, Volker said.

Earlier on Monday, as the IFAW team of about 15 people were roping off the area around the carcass and setting up equipment in preparation to cut into the carcass, Connecticut resident Lori Salazar stood on the beach looking at photos she’d taken of the carcass on Saturday.

“It was in much better shape, that’s for sure,” Salazar said of the whale remains in front of her.

She and her friends had arrived Saturday for a four-day vacation, and they were walking on the tidal flats when they heard there was a dead whale on the beach. “I’d never seen one up close,” she said.

Humpback whales and the critically endangered North Atlantic right whales are also dying at higher rates than normal along the Atlantic, and are being studied as unusual mortality events as well. In early May, a 40-ton adult female humpback carcass beached in Sandwich and a necropsy was performed at Sandy Neck Beach. The results of the necropsy were inconclusive, an IFAW spokeswoman said Monday.