SEATTLE -- A necropsy is scheduled Thursday on another grey whale that has died in the Puget Sound. It's the fourth grey whale to wash ashore this month.
The whale was first spotted Wednesday just off the West Seattle shoreline. By Thursday afternoon, the dead whale had washed up along Arroyo Beach, which attracted considerable attention.
Researchers will be out trying to answers many questions lingering on how the whale died. NOAA officials gave a rough estimate of the whale, saying it is about 30 feet long and appears to be underweight, but the sex is unknown at this time. West Seattle Blog reports the whale is female, sub adult and emaciated.
KING 5 has also received new video around the time when the whale may have taken its last breath. Neighbors say they saw it breathing shortly before it stopped moving.
"One of the neighbors thought they saw it gave its last breath, so to speak," said one West Seattle resident.
Marine biologists say it's not unusual for five to seven whales to die in a migration season as they make their way north to their summer feeding grounds around Alaska, but more deaths would be cause for concern.
The carcasses, including the one near West Seattle, have all been skinny. Experts say it could be an indication the whales aren't finding enough food in the ocean.
Researchers are expected to come out today and remove the carcass to perform a whale autopsy or necropsy. This is the fourth dead gray whale to wash up in the Puget Sound area since April 4. A fifth whale washed up on Vancouver Island, west of Victoria.
Another dead grey whale turned up on Samish Island and another near Deception Pass. Another was found in Oakland Bay in Mason County.
The necropsy on the Samish Island whale wrapped up this week. Experts say it had a very little in its stomach and dried blubber, which indicates the whale was trying to survive on its own blubber. Biologists want to see if this is the same situation with this dead whale.
