Whale Carcass Beached on Oregon Coast
On Sunday, May 27, 2007, the carcass of a 40-foot California Gray Whale washed up on a beach near Seal Rock, Oregon, a mere 40 or so miles north of where Oregon’s original exploding whale incident occurred. Scientists have been unable to determine a cause of death. The whale will be buried in a nearby sandy area.
- Gray Whale’s death probed by scientists (or watch video)- KOMO
- 40-foot whale washes up on Oregon coast (or watch slideshow) - KGW
- Giant Carcass Washes Ashore - KOIN
- Dead 40-foot whale washes ashore near Newport - The Oregonian
- Dead whale attracts curious onlookers (includes link to video) - KATU
- Police: Stop taking parts of dead whale - KATU
- Officials on Oregon Coast tell tourists: Hands off the dead whale - KTVZ
- Oregon State Police Looking for Those Taking Dead Whale Parts - Salem-News.com
- Authorities search for scavengers who took parts from a dead whale - The Oregonian
- Touching Dead Oregon Coast Whale Could Mean Fines, Disease - BeachConnection.net
- Stealing Whale Parts Is A Crime - KOIN
- Gawkers told: Hands off the dead whale - KTVZ
- Cause of death undetermined for whale on Ore. beach - The Oregonian
- Dead gray whale buried - The Oregonian
- Overnight tide exposes gray whale buried Thursday - The Oregonian
- Higher, drier beachfront site needed to rebury gray whale - The Oregonian
June 17th, 2007 at 3:34 pm
Hi,
The State of Oregon could have responded much better with staff, volunteers, or signs to warn or educate visitors about human health concerns in touching the whale or that it was illegal to remove whale parts. The choice of the first place to dispose of the whale was also poor, since part of it was exposed the day after it was buried. It also seemed that there was not a well-coordinated response among State Parks, State Police, and the Oregon Marine Mammal Stranding Network.
I discuss these issues in my “Letter to Gov. Kulongoski about Improving the State of Oregon’s Response to Beached Whales Based on the State’s Response to the Gray Whale Beached on 27 May 2007 Near Seal Rocks “at http://www.orednet.org/~rbayer/lincoln/whale.htm [must use all lower case letters].