WESTHAMPTON, NY — A whale found deceased near Westhampton this weekend may have died due to natural causes, officials said Monday.
The Atlantic Marine Conservation Society responded Monday to a 24-ft long female minke whale that washed ashore on Cupsogue Beach County Park’s ocean side Monday.
AMSEAS worked with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries, and Suffolk County Parks to develop a response plan and secure the animal for a necropsy examination that was conducted Monday afternoon, officials said.
Trained responders from AMSEAS collected as much information from the whale before it was buried. The 24-ft female minke whale was very decomposed upon examination, and was not in good body condition. The state of decomposition made a definite cause of death ruling very difficult, although there was evidence of heart issues similar to other cases observed in the New York Bight — an area in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of New York and New Jersey — where infectious disease was implicated in other minke whale strandings, AMSEAS said.
