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Whale washes up on beach in county
Video: Whale washes ashore
The corpse of a large Blue whale reported to be floating in local waters for several days washes up at a local beach.Watch now »
Courtesy of Anthony Lombardi / www.liquidpix.com
A research boat approaches a 70-foot-long dead blue whale just offshore from Hobson Campground Thursday evening. The whale washed up on shore later Thursday.
STORY TOOLS 
More from County NewsA dead 70-foot blue whale washed ashore Thursday night on state land in Ventura County just east of Hobson Park.
The cause of death is unknown, but several teams of marine wildlife scientists converged on the site today with plans to launch a necropsy this afternoon.
A research team from Oregon State University spotted the dead leviathan Tuesday from the air south of San Miguel Island while tagging other blue whales to track their migration.
It's unclear how long it will take to remove the dead mammal, which will require chopping it into five or six pieces and hauling it off with heavy equipment, said Paul Collins, curator of vertebrate zoology at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History.
"When they get this big, you can't just easily haul them" in one piece, Collins said.
Federal protection regulations require a detailed examination of the whale, which is listed as a federally endangered species. Officials cordoned off the area with yellow tape, and beachgoers are asked to stay at least 100 yards from the whale.
This is the fifth blue whale to die in the Santa Barbara Channel since 1975, Collins said.
Officials believe the whale had been dead for about five to seven days by the time it washed ashore. Normally blue, the whale's skin had decomposed into a pastiche of black ripples and splotches of white, and a ripe odor wafted up the shore where scientists and gawkers kept watch.
The whale is likely a young adult, said Dr. Samuel Dover, a veterinarian and executive director of the Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute.
On Friday morning, the whale lay on its back, jostled by gentle waves in the high tide. Its genitals were exposed, but subtle differences between male and female anatomy make it difficult to determine the sex until closer examination, Dover said.
Posted by guy133 on September 14, 2007 at 12:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)
RIP little buddy.
Posted by sslocal on September 14, 2007 at 12:14 p.m. (Suggest removal)
What do you do with such a large dead body. Hobson is hardly large enough to allow burial.
Posted by FedUp on September 14, 2007 at 12:19 p.m. (Suggest removal)
they will probably tow it out to sea, and blow it up out there.
I watched it from the beach area for about 45 minutes. impressive.
Posted by stephen_90042 on September 14, 2007 at 12:33 p.m. (Suggest removal)
i wonder if it is attracting more gw sharks to the area, and/or if it had any signs of post-mortem shark bites.
Posted by sslocal on September 14, 2007 at 12:34 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Dang what a mess.
I feel for the whale as there are not to many blues out there anymore.
Posted by SantaMariaResident on September 14, 2007 at 1:12 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Does anyone know how long it will be out there? I've never seen a whale in real life and I would drive to go see one.
Posted by sokol_kiev on September 14, 2007 at 1:20 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Wow... very sad. Blue whales are amazing and gorgeous mammals. Sslocal, you're so right... there are not too many of these guys left out there, which makes the death of this one even sadder.
Posted by SpiderWoman on September 14, 2007 at 2:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Poor whale! Hopefully it was just age that killed it and not some senseless act.
Posted by mikesmason on September 14, 2007 at 2:13 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Senseless act like Whale killing for sport.
http://www.peninsuladailynews.com/app...
Posted by FedUp on September 14, 2007 at 2:21 p.m. (Suggest removal)
the whale looked to have died of natural causes. I did not notice any large gashes of any sort, something that may have been caused by a large ship or something. and it did not look to have been nibbled on, but then again, I did not get to see the side that was submerged.
I am guessing it will be on the beach for a couple of more days. it really is quite a sight. I am guessing it has been dead for at least a week. this whale surely was no longer a beauty to see though. it was pretty sad.
if you do go up to see it, please dont park in the actual road, like so many idiots did last night. I am very surprised no one was killed on the highway last night.
Posted by slkrchck on September 14, 2007 at 2:28 p.m. (Suggest removal)
i camped at faria awhile back and a whale washed up there. county said it was states problem and state said county had to take care of it. it stayed for days and stank to high heaven. many campers left. they were downwind. many collected parts. federal offense? i should say so! it was very disrespectful. it took days to even wash up. we saw it come in slowly. it should have been taken care of before it got to land. it had many cutter shark bites. terrible.
Posted by lescornejo on September 14, 2007 at 3:07 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I hope they can preserve the skeleton and maybe display it at the Channel Islands Sea Center, same as the ones in the Santa Barbara Natural History Museum and also their sea center. That way our kids can learn about how big our fellow mammals get.
Posted by SUBLIMETIME123 on September 14, 2007 at 3:08 p.m. (Suggest removal)
What a bummer! Poor little 70 ft long Blue Whale.(RIP)
Posted by RelaxPeople on September 14, 2007 at 3:24 p.m. (Suggest removal)
was the last paragraph about it's genitals necessary?
Posted by vicki.swenson on September 14, 2007 at 3:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Rest in peace you poor blue whale. How sad, I hate to see an endangered species meet with such a sad ending.
Posted by theonlycapsfan on September 14, 2007 at 6:48 p.m. (Suggest removal)
To see what they will do to the whale go here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Vmnq5...
Posted by theonlycapsfan on September 14, 2007 at 9:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
vicki.swenson,
What sad ending? We don't know how it died. For all we know it died a peaceful death of old age. All living things, endangered or not, die at some point. It doesn't necessarily mean it met "with such a sad ending" though.
Posted by Tom_Johnston on September 14, 2007 at 11:26 p.m. (Suggest removal)
uhh...mammals have genital organs. That is a fact. Commenting on that is...uhm...necessary if the sex of the whale is to be mentioned. We're talkng whales here...not Senators in washrooms.
Posted by tedroy on September 15, 2007 at 12:04 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Coincidence? Probably not..
http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articl...
I hope the NAVY didn't kill this whale.
Posted by mbh1184 on September 16, 2007 at 6:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)
<<Maybe it was killed by LNG gas...or a tanker...or by global warming...or a Navy missile...or by a Republican.?>>
Does politics have to be involved in everything? Is not the natural world devoid of politics? Cannot we marvel at nature's beauty (i.e., life and death) and keep it at that?
(Sigh.....)
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