Another Dead Fin Whale in Washington

Oregon’s Exploding Whale was once again mentioned in a news story about the arrival of a 50-foot whale carcass to the Port of Everett in Washington State. 

The advanced state of decay initially made it difficult to identify the type of whale, though experts now believe it was a fin whale. This is the second specimen of this endangered and rarely-seen whale to come ashore in Washington in less than six months. (The carcass of another fin whale washed up on a Washington beach last May.)

As with the last one, researchers believe the whale had been struck by a ship. However, it was also entangled in such a way that it had likely been unable to feed for weeks or possibly months. 

The whale was found when dock workers complained of a foul smell coming from under the dock. 

Oregon’s Exploding Whale was also referenced: 

Whale remains often are treated like gangland snitches – left to decompose on remote beaches, hastily buried, or brought to deep water, weighted down with large cement chunks and sent to the bottom of the sea.

There also was that time in Oregon when a state agency used dynamite to dispose of a whale carcass, but Barre promised that method of disposal is never used by NOAA.

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