OLD ORCHARD BEACH — A dead minke whale that washed up on Pine Point Beach in Scarborough Sunday before strong winds and high tides moved its carcass to Old Orchard Beach earlier today has been disposed of.

Lynda Doughty, Executive Director of Marine Mammals of Maine, examined the whale on Monday morning before crews from the Old Orchard Beach Public Works Department used a front end loader to lift the 8,000 pound whale into a dump truck.

The whale, which likely died at sea weeks ago, was transported from the popular swimming beach to an unidentified burial site, Doughty said.

“We found the whale this morning in the (sand) dunes. I think it’s impressive that an animal that size can be moved like it was a feather by the  power of the ocean,” Doughty said.

Doughty, whose agency responds to reports of stranded or dead marine animals, said the whale was about 25 feet long and was a male juvenile. It was not the same minke whale that came ashore last month on rocks near Two Lights State Park in Cape Elizabeth.

The Cape Elizabeth whale – a 27-foot-long adult male minke – eventually was swept back out to sea. Both whales were in a severe state of decomposition.

Doughty said her newly formed organization responded to about a half dozen reports of live, stranded seal pups over the weekend. Those animals were transported to the University of New England’s rehabilitation center in Biddeford.

Under a new stranding agreement with The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Marine Mammals of Maine is authorized to respond to the coastal area between Kittery and Rockland.

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