Necropsy performed on humpback calf that stranded off Chatham

By Doug Fraser 

Published Nov 9, 2020

CHATHAM – A 31-foot-long male humpback calf that died after stranding Saturday in shallow water near the mouth of Stage Harbor was lifted onto a truck Monday morning and taken to the Bourne landfill for a necropsy, said Misty Niemeyer, the stranding coordinator for the International Fund for Animal Welfare in Yarmouth.

“We still don’t know why it stranded,” Niemeyer said.

The necropsy, an animal autopsy, showed the calf was between 8 and 11 months old and appeared very healthy, Niemeyer said. She said that the Center for Coastal Studies helped identify the calf as one born to a humpback known as Lynx, likely off the coast of the Dominican Republic sometime between January and March.

The necropsy showed the calf had nursed recently but didn’t appear to be feeding yet on fish. There was no evidence of entanglement in fishing line or trauma from being hit by a vessel, two of the leading causes of death in whales.

The necropsy team estimated its weight to be 24,000 pounds, or 12 tons, and said it was big for its age.

“It seemed healthy and was one of the more robust whales we’ve seen,” Niemeyer said.

IFAW does not know what may have become of the calf’s mother, whether they became separated or the mother was killed. The pair was spotted by a Bar Harbor, Maine, whale watch vessel in August, Niemeyer said, and in Cape waters earlier this summer.

A shell fisherman notified IFAW of the stranded whale at 6:30 a.m. Saturday.  IFAW was assisted at the scene by personnel from the Chatham and Harwich harbormasters offices.

The agencies worked throughout the day trying to free the animal, keeping it wet and placing blankets over it to protect it from the sun. Niemeyer said the whale was in only a foot of water and conditions were tough, with a fast moving current. There wasn’t enough water at high tide for it to float off the sandbar.

The whale was dead Sunday morning when rescuers returned to the site and the whale was towed into Stage Harbor that night. A crane lifted it onto the truck Monday for transportation to the landfill, where it was buried following the necropsy.