SEASIDE PARK, NJ – The Marine Mammal Stranding Center said on Wednesday that the volume of whales and dolphins being found dead at the Jersey Shore since December has been “taxing:” for team members trying to investigate the cause of the recent increase.
“To say that it has been an extremely busy and taxing few weeks for our team is an understatement, and today has been no exception,” MMSC said in a statement. “Please understand that our small team has been out in the field responding to both live and deceased animal calls, so social media updates come when we have the time.”
On Wednesday, the team was dispatched to a whale sighting just a day after investigating a dolphin death.
“At 11:04 am this morning, we received a call for a whale carcass approximately ½ mile off Seaside Park. Through drone footage the carcass was identified as a Humpback whale,” the MMSC said. “It is unknown at this time if this is the same whale carcass that was spotted floating in the Ambrose Channel earlier this week.”
Later in the day, another whale washed up at Breezy Point near the Ambrose Channel sighting. The Rockaway Times reported that the whale could be the one spotted earlier in the week by the Coast Guard.
To date, the MMSC says they have not received any final necropsy results from previous whale investigations. It doesn’t look like those results will be coming any time soon.
“Updates on previous necropsies- As of today, MMSC has NOT received FINAL necropsy results for any of the samples submitted for pathology,” the MMSC said in a statement. “In fact, we are still waiting for pathology results from animals that were stranded last summer. We have been transparent with the information we know from the preliminary necropsy results, however, we are at the mercy of the time it takes for final pathology results to be completed.”
The MMSC said the past few months have been ‘challenging times’ for members of their team.
