Whale dies after beaching in Florida

• Tweet

VERO BEACH, Fla., July 6 (UPI) -- A 10-foot pygmy sperm whale that beached itself near Vero Beach, Fla., died despite efforts by residents and wildlife workers to rescue it, authorities said.

A necropsy was being conducted Wednesday to determine the cause of the male animal's death, said Steve McCulloch of the marine mammal stranding program at Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute in Fort Pierce.

"The beachgoers did an awesome job of helping to stabilize the whale," McCulloch told TCPalm.com. "But this species of whale suffers from a heart condition called cardiomyopathy," a disease of the heart muscle.

Officials began getting calls of a beached whale near Wabasso Beach Park about 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Witnesses said they saw the distressed whale swimming in knee-deep water and called 911.

The animal died shortly after a rescue attempt in which around 15 people carried the nearly 1,000-pound whale on a special blue stretcher from the shoreline to a waiting rescue unit.

Despite the whale's death, Walter Blake, one of the rescuers, said he wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

"There was a responsibility on the part of everyone to save that animal," he said.