Humpback whale washes up dead on popular Long Island beach; cause of death not yet determined

Humpback whale washes up dead on Long Island beach

WANTAGH, N.Y. — A dead humpback whale measuring nearly 30 feet has washed up on a public beach on New York’s Long Island.

New York State Parks Police officers found the male humpback Thursday at the east end of Jones Beach. Experts say it was 2 to 5 years old and probably had been dead about a week.

Biologists from the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation headed to the scene but didn’t have equipment available to perform a necropsy to determine what caused the animal’s death.

Instead, the whale was picked up and moved from the shoreline onto the sand. Tests were scheduled for Friday.

The whale drew a cluster of onlookers who gazed at the enormous, barnacle-covered creature.

In April, a dying 30-foot humpback became beached about 80 miles away in East Hampton.