Monday afternoon in Jupiter, a mother pygmy sperm whale was found dead washed ashore, while her calf was euthanized by the Marinelife Center.
The mother whale was found around four-thirty in the afternoon in the northern beach side area of Jupiter Reef Club. Authorities also report that the calf was found in a nearby Carlin Park. Officials from The Florida Fish and Wildflife Conservation Commission transferred the calf closer to the mother, but had to euthanize it when the mother died.
According to a biologist from the FWC, John Cassady, it is unfortunate that the diagnoses for whales that are found in beaches are often not good. For the case of a mother whale leaving her calf behind, at such a very young age, the conservation commission doesn’t have the appropriate facilities to take care of the ocean animal, and so, the most humane decision is to euthanize the calf.
FWC spokeswoman Carli Segelson said in an interview with Palm Beach Post that such animals of a young age will not be able to make it in the wild on its own. The calf was later put down by a veterinarian from the Juno Beach-based Loggerhead Marinelife Center.
The carcasses of both pygmy sperm whales were transported to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration laboratory located in Miami for a necropsy. Cassady also added that there were no obvious injuries and it would be very soon to conclude the reason behind the mother’s death.
In the case of beaching, there are just so many factors to consider that it would be too difficult to determine the actual cause of the mother’s death. Cassidy is hoping that the results of the necropsy will point them to the right direction.
The mother whale was around 1,500 pounds, and about 10 feet long in estimates. The calf was a little less than six feet long, and only weight around 400 pounds.
