BALTIMORE – The carcass of a beached whale was discovered last week along Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
Officers with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Police said a dead subadult male humpback whale was found on the north end of Assateague Island National Seashore last Wednesday, January 31.
“National Park Service staff moved the carcass out of the tidal zone to a more accessible location, and a necropsy was conducted Feb. 2 by staff and volunteers of the Maryland DNR Stranding Response Program and the National Aquarium,” Maryland DNR spokesperson Gregg Bortz said.
Bortz said a definitive cause of death was unable to be determined during the examination and samples are being shipped for diagnostic analysis.
According to WJLA in Washington, D.C. , it was the second beached whale carcass found in the area within three weeks.
In 2023, 37 humpback whales were discovered dead along the East Coast, according to data.