A baby sperm whale that washed ashore in New York died after a group of surfers and construction workers failed to rescue it. According to New York Post, the rescuers jumped into freezing water but their attempt failed. The 30-feet whale was found beached in the Rockway in New York at around 7.30am on Tuesday by workers who were building a seawall in the area, the outlet further said. There are a number of reasons for beaching of a fish, including sickness or injury. In this case, the exact reason is not known.
Anthony Rossitto, the supervisor of the team that was building the seawall, told the Post, "A couple of my guys were walking out to the field where their work detail is and they came back in and told me there's a beached whale out there. It still looked like it was flailing. It was alive."
The workers then reported the incident to the Parks Department, the Department of Environmental Conservation and police, and even tried to help it.
They tied a rope around the whale and tried to pull it back into the water, but the animal turned out to be too huge.
"A bunch of surfers were in the area and they jumped in the water and tried to turn it around. But it's 35 foot. I can only imagine how much it weighs. They just couldn't get it turned around and get it back out," said Rossitto.
A Parks Department official said the calf was likely between 3- to 5-year-old. It was "upright... and breathing" but was definitely in "distress", he added.
The officials said that an autopsy will be conducted after which the whale will be cut apart and buried in the sand under the waterline.
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