Whale beached in Queens, ...f low tide

Rescue crews are in a race against the clock after a whale beached itself this morning in Queens.

A resident reported the stranded sea mammal just before 9 a.m., a security staffer for the Breezy Cooperative told The Post.

The 50-foot-long whale is believed to be a female humpback whale. Point Breeze firefighters are using a water pump to keep the mammal alive.

"I haven't seen a whale like this in Breezy since I was a kid," said Joan Washington, who has been a resident of Breezy Point for the past thirty years.

"We started seeing wildlife like this again last summer. We see dolphins and sharks on the ocean side but not in the bay."

Ed Manley, a volunteer from Florida helping with Hurricane Sandy cleanup efforts, was the first person to get to the beach, he said.

"We got a call this morning from the police department, they said come down and help out," said Manley, who has been volunteering in Breezy Point for the past 77 days.

Manley worked nonstop for three hours in the cold, throwing buckets of water on the whale to help it survive.

"They couldn't get the pump going so I was using a bucket to keep her nice and wet."

Manley, who has worked to save whales in Florida, said the next step is to slowly pull the whale back into the water.

"Dead low tide for Jamaica Bay is 12:46 p.m.," said Dennis Dier, Chief of Security for Breezy Cooperative. "In another hour, the water will go out another five feet. The whale will be completely beached. He's up against a lot right now."

When a whale is beached, it runs the risk of being crushed by its own weight, as well as becoming dehydrated.

Wildlife rescue crews are racing to the scene.

from the NY POST

By the way you posted it, you made it seem like the whale was at a street in Queens.

Timmy84 said:

By the way you posted it, you made it seem like the whale was at a street in Queens.

That's how the Enquirer sell millions of copies.

PurpleJedi said:

Timmy84 said:

By the way you posted it, you made it seem like the whale was at a street in Queens.

That's how the Enquirer sell millions of copies.

True.

Timmy84 said:

By the way you posted it, you made it seem like the whale was at a street in Queens.

I'm just glad it wasn't a picture of Gabourey Sidibe

You shouldn't be surprised.... heck you guys should be used to seeing more sealife trying to get out that funky water. Just ONE whale???

aardvark15 said:

Timmy84 said:

By the way you posted it, you made it seem like the whale was at a street in Queens.

I'm just glad it wasn't a picture of Gabourey Sidibe

paintedlady said:

You shouldn't be surprised.... heck you guys should be used to seeing more sealife trying to get out that funky water. Just ONE whale???

I never would've THOUGHT that a whale would come anywhere NEAR Manhattan.

When a shark showed up in Jones Beach a couple of years ago, it was BIG NEWS.

In fact...to go "whale watching" we typically have to go on a cruise off Montauk point (the easternmost tip of Long Island) or drive up to your neck of the woods to catch a cruise from Boston Harbor.

PurpleJedi said:

paintedlady said:

You shouldn't be surprised.... heck you guys should be used to seeing more sealife trying to get out that funky water. Just ONE whale???

I never would've THOUGHT that a whale would come anywhere NEAR Manhattan.

When a shark showed up in Jones Beach a couple of years ago, it was BIG NEWS.

In fact...to go "whale watching" we typically have to go on a cruise off Montauk point (the easternmost tip of Long Island) or drive up to your neck of the woods to catch a cruise from Boston Harbor.

Its all the same ocean, I am actually shocked you guys do not run into more sealife... its disturbing.

We cleaned up our nasty harbor and the murky Charles (so gross) now you can see people fishing off the docks ... and when I swim at my beach we run into SOMETHING everytime we swim there... and that's when we are like OK!!! Let's go home!

the usual suspects are horsehoe crabs, spidercrabs, regular crabs, moon jellyfish, clear shrimp-like stuff in our bathing suits, clams, muscles, stars, urchins, and eels....

on a rare occassion we ran the into a half eaten shark, some huge silver fish I stepped on and a flounder that scared the crap outta me. I was done.

If my kids see something a bit too big we just go home, or play in the sand only. Its still nice to see animals in the water.

I would think the sealife in your area was the same. Maybe they just are more active at night?

I would worry about the water quality of any ocean that didn't have some life in it.

paintedlady said:

PurpleJedi said:

I never would've THOUGHT that a whale would come anywhere NEAR Manhattan.

When a shark showed up in Jones Beach a couple of years ago, it was BIG NEWS.

In fact...to go "whale watching" we typically have to go on a cruise off Montauk point (the easternmost tip of Long Island) or drive up to your neck of the woods to catch a cruise from Boston Harbor.

Its all the same ocean, I am actually shocked you guys do not run into more sealife... its disturbing.

We cleaned up our nasty harbor and the murky Charles (so gross) now you can see people fishing off the docks ... and when I swim at my beach we run into SOMETHING everytime we swim there... and that's when we are like OK!!! Let's go home!

the usual suspects are horsehoe crabs, spidercrabs, regular crabs, moon jellyfish, clear shrimp-like stuff in our bathing suits, clams, muscles, stars, urchins, and eels....

on a rare occassion we ran the into a half eaten shark, some huge silver fish I stepped on and a flounder that scared the crap outta me. I was done.

If my kids see something a bit too big we just go home, or play in the sand only. Its still nice to see animals in the water.

I would think the sealife in your area was the same. Maybe they just are more active at night?

I would worry about the water quality of any ocean that didn't have some life in it.

Oh well off the coast of Long Island we have PLENTY of sealife. My first trip fishing from Freeport I actually caught a sand shark. The south shore beaches are very turbulent, so you don't run into much when swimming. I haven't swimmed in the north shore beaches since a kid (it's all course sand with gravel and pebbles, not the white sand of the south) but I'm sure you run into more stuff up there b/c the waves are calm. Shellfish are everywhere.

There are tours you can take to see seals off the coast (near Coney Island I think???) at certain times of the year.

Whales though...that's something completely unexpected (to me at least).

PurpleJedi said:

paintedlady said:

Its all the same ocean, I am actually shocked you guys do not run into more sealife... its disturbing.

We cleaned up our nasty harbor and the murky Charles (so gross) now you can see people fishing off the docks ... and when I swim at my beach we run into SOMETHING everytime we swim there... and that's when we are like OK!!! Let's go home!

the usual suspects are horsehoe crabs, spidercrabs, regular crabs, moon jellyfish, clear shrimp-like stuff in our bathing suits, clams, muscles, stars, urchins, and eels....

on a rare occassion we ran the into a half eaten shark, some huge silver fish I stepped on and a flounder that scared the crap outta me. I was done.

If my kids see something a bit too big we just go home, or play in the sand only. Its still nice to see animals in the water.

I would think the sealife in your area was the same. Maybe they just are more active at night?

I would worry about the water quality of any ocean that didn't have some life in it.

Oh well off the coast of Long Island we have PLENTY of sealife. My first trip fishing from Freeport I actually caught a sand shark. The south shore beaches are very turbulent, so you don't run into much when swimming. I haven't swimmed in the north shore beaches since a kid (it's all course sand with gravel and pebbles, not the white sand of the south) but I'm sure you run into more stuff up there b/c the waves are calm. Shellfish are everywhere.

There are tours you can take to see seals off the coast (near Coney Island I think???) at certain times of the year.

Whales though...that's something completely unexpected (to me at least).

Oh, OK... the fish must steer clear from all the traffic in the harbor... its such a huge shipping port.

Whales are rare in general.... its heartbreaking when you do find one that's gotten into trouble.

I wonder if whales just swim under all the boat traffic and know to stay outta site.

We just had same thing happen in Holland.

Poor animal didn't survive

so did it survive?

we had a whale swim up the thames in london a few years ago, that was quite shocking.. it's got it's own wiki page

of course the poor thing died

excited said:

so did it survive?

we had a whale swim up the thames in london a few years ago, that was quite shocking.. it's got it's own wiki page

of course the poor thing died

For Dead Whale of Breezy Point, Necropsy and Beach Burial

Updated, 5:28 p.m. | On the windswept beach at Breezy Point on Thursday afternoon, the researcher cut a small, raw cube out of the side of the giant whale, deposited the morsel in a vial of formaldehyde and screwed the cap shut. It was a messy job.

“The whale is still full of blood,” the researcher, Julika Wocial, explained, “even though it’s dead.”

What began as a post-Christmas drama — the sighting of an endangered finback whale, breathing, just barely, as it floundered in the surf of Rockaway Inlet in Queens on Wednesday – became a grim procedural march after the mammal died overnight.

As the dead leviathan lay among the waves, Thursday became a day to tackle logistical headaches, including locating the right knives to fillet it for science and tracking down machinery heavy-duty enough to tow the beast, estimated to weigh 30 tons, to its grave site in the dunes nearby.

The animal showed up on the beach emaciated; at 60 feet long, it should have weighed around 60 tons, said Robert DiGiovanni Jr., executive director of the Riverhead Foundation on Long Island, the officially designated marine-mammal rescue group for the region. In death on Thursday, the whale’s spinal column could be seen under taut gray skin. “It was clearly sick for a very long time,” Mr. DiGiovanni said.

The possible causes of the whale’s death are many, said Allison McHale, a spokeswoman for the National Marine Fisheries Service. It could have contracted any number of viral or bacterial diseases. It could have been struck by a ship — though no serious injuries were visible on the parts of the whale that could be inspected, there could be injuries on the parts of the whale that were hidden from view, or the animal could have been mortally injured long enough ago that no injuries were visible.

After the necropsy – and, if an interested museum can be found, the removal and donation of the whale’s skeleton – whatever is left of the animal will be buried on the spot. The whale cannot be towed back out to sea, Mr. Avrin said. “It’s a hazard to navigation,” he said. “It will just end up on somebody else’s dunes.”

On Wednesday, the whale had come to rest down the beach on property managed by the Breezy Point Cooperative, a gated community that was savaged by fire and floods during Hurricane Sandy, and, some residents said, could scarcely afford another headache. But on Thursday morning, the tide pushed it over onto federal property at Gateway.

As the wind whipped up on Thursday, the seawater around the animal’s drooping tail grew red with blood. Seagulls stood their distance, looking unsure what to do as the gathering of humans stood beside the carcass, discussing the daunting tasks ahead.

Aww... that's sad.

PurpleJedi said:

excited said:

so did it survive?

we had a whale swim up the thames in london a few years ago, that was quite shocking.. it's got it's own wiki page

of course the poor thing died

For Dead Whale of Breezy Point, Necropsy and Beach Burial

RIP sweet whale! it looks so peaceful at least

PurpleJedi said:

paintedlady said:

You shouldn't be surprised.... heck you guys should be used to seeing more sealife trying to get out that funky water. Just ONE whale???

I never would've THOUGHT that a whale would come anywhere NEAR Manhattan.

When a shark showed up in Jones Beach a couple of years ago, it was BIG NEWS.

In fact...to go "whale watching" we typically have to go on a cruise off Montauk point (the easternmost tip of Long Island) or drive up to your neck of the woods to catch a cruise from Boston Harbor.

There have always been sharks at the beaches here. I saw a baby one at Riis Beach as a kid and saw one about 3 feet long(I think it was a sand shark) being reeled in by a fisherman on the the bridge to Riis about ten years ago. Not so sure about whales though.