CAPE ELIZABETH — The carcass of a 27-foot-long male Minke whale washed up on the rocky shoreline near Two Lights State Park in Cape Elizabeth this morning.
Lynda Doughty, Executive Director of Marine Mammals of Maine, responded. She estimated the whale weighed about 8,000 pounds.
Additional Photos
Doughty said the whale was so badly decomposed that she decided against doing a necropsy. She estimated the whale probably died at sea several weeks ago and washed ashore on Thursday.
“We’ve decided to leave the whale there and let Nature take its course,” Doughty said. She would not speculate on how the whale may have died.
Jeanne Curran, a spokeswoman for the Maine Department of Conservation, said the whale is on private property near the boundary with the state park. A ranger notified Marine Mammals of Maine that there was a dead whale on the rocks near the park.
Minke whales are commonly found in the Gulf of Maine.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
Success. Please wait for the page to reload. If the page does not reload within 5 seconds, please refresh the page.
Enter your email and password to access comments.
Hi, to comment on stories you must . This profile is in addition to your subscription and website login.
Already have a commenting profile? .
Invalid username/password.
Please check your email to confirm and complete your registration.
Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.
Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.