OCEAN SHORES, Wash. (AP) — Officials say a female humpback whale found beached in Ocean Shores Monday appears to have died after suffering blunt force trauma consistent with a ship strike.
The 30.5-foot-long juvenile whale was in “good nutritional condition,” according to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration spokesperson Michael Milstein, but more information on the whale’s death is expected to be released this week.
Earlier in July, a humpback whale was struck near Seattle by a state ferry, though that whale was never found and is believed to have sank.