Rescuers try to aid injured minke whale (Massachusetts, USA)

NORTH TRURO — 081714 — A minke whale stranded about a mile north of Cold Storage Beach Sunday. A team from International Fund for Animal Welfare Marine Mammal Rescue and Research responded.

August 18^th, 2014. TRURO – Officials with the International Fund for Animal Welfare responded to a minke whale found floundering in the surf on a Truro beach Sunday afternoon.

The water around the whale was bloody and people were standing around watching as IFAW Marine Mammal Rescue and Research Program officials discussed what to do.

The whale, which is a member of the baleen suborder, was “skinny,” IFAW Assistant Stranding Coordinator C.T. Harry said.

It was unclear whether a wound under its belly was responsible for the whale’s apparent malnourishment or whether the injury was caused by rubbing up against the rocks, Harry said. The whale was found north of Cold Storage Beach at about 3 p.m., he said.

Found partially submerged, the whale was estimated to be three to five tons and 20 to 25 feet long, he said.

Adult minke whales can grow to be about 10 tons normally, Harry said.

The whale was still alive at 8:30 p.m., but the tide had not receded enough for rescuers to reach the whale, Harry said. He said if the whale made it through the night, IFAW would assess the mammal’s health and determine at first light whether euthanization would be necessary. (Ed Sibylline : people who think in eutanazy as a first step are not rescuers, they are murderers. Let us call a spade a spade !… It’s so easy to kill instead of curing…).

A week earlier a dead minke whale was found in Barnstable Harbor. That 15-footer was removed and taken to undergo a necropsy.

Another 26-foot, 8,700-pound minke died in June after it was found entangled in fishing gear off Provincetown.

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