60-foot whale stranded on NY beach
A 60-foot finback whale beached itself today in Queens, New York, blocks from homes devastated during Hurricane Sandy.
The whale, severely underweight even at about 60 tons, was alive, but its breathing was slowing, and it was not long for this world, rescuers told The New York Times.
“Unfortunately, this animal is so emaciated, there’s nothing we can do,” said Kim Durham, rescue program director for the Riverhead Foundation on Long Island, the region’s official rescuer of stranded marine mammals.
Photo: A 60-foot fin whale washed up on the Jamaica Bay beach at Breezy Point, Queens, on Wednesday. (Chang W. Lee/The New York Times)
