Overview
- The 50-foot, 104,000-pound male sperm whale washed up on Nantucket’s north shore this week, the island’s first sperm whale stranding since 2002.
- Experts determined the animal is too large to move for a full necropsy, so biologists are conducting an on-site examination with extensive tissue and organ sampling.
- NOAA’s Office of Law Enforcement removed the lower jaw to secure the teeth, and authorities remind the public that possession of marine mammal parts is illegal.
- The carcass has been anchored and tagged, and the Town of Nantucket is working with NOAA and contractors to tow it many miles offshore, with hopes to do so before Thanksgiving though timing and costs remain unsettled.
- Officials say offshore decomposition will avoid hazards to beachgoers, swimmers and vessels, and the public is urged to stay at least 300 feet away from the site.