By Delcenia Cosman

Reporter, Homer Independent Press

A female gray whale washed up on the Anchor Point beach earlier this week. Staff members from the Alaska SeaLife Center, Alaska Veterinary Pathology Services and the Kenaitze Indian Tribe responded and were conducting a necropsy on Tuesday. 

Respondents did not yet know as of Tuesday whether the whale was already deceased when it was beached. ASLC and AVPS took samples from most of the whale’s vital organs to help determine the cause of death. 

According to information posted near the necropsy site, samples taken from the whale’s skin, blubber layer and baleen can help researchers to examine the whale’s genetics, nutritional state and hormonal cycles, respectively. Checking the whale’s stomach contents can help provide clues as to its health and where it has been. Broken bones may indicate whether the whale died from trauma-related causes, such as being struck by a boat.

More information will come as the results of the necropsy become available.

Community members may report dead stranded marine mammals to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Alaska Regional Marine Mammal Stranding Hotline at 1-877-925-7773.

Marine mammals can also become entangled in fishing gear. Report live entangled marine mammals to the Alaska SeaLife Center Stranding Hotline by calling 1-888-774-7325.

Community members should not approach stranded or injured marine mammals directly, both for their own safety and for the animal’s wellbeing.