{"id":302231,"date":"2025-11-22T21:37:10","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T21:37:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/302231\/"},"modified":"2025-11-22T21:37:10","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T21:37:10","slug":"oregon-tribe-harvests-beached-whale-for-the-first-time-in-generations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/302231\/","title":{"rendered":"Oregon tribe harvests beached whale for the first time in generations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Darkness had fallen and the tide was rolling in, lapping at the heels of the team of people who were quickly disassembling the big whale<\/a>, piece by piece, bone by bone.<\/p>\n

The young humpback, 26 feet long and 20,000 pounds in all (roughly the size of a small school bus), had become entangled in crabbing gear and had beached itself<\/a> along the central Oregon coast over the weekend. After two days of efforts to save the whale failed, it was euthanized. After that, it was up to the Siletz tribe to take the whale carcass apart.<\/p>\n

Lisa Norton, who works as the chief administrative officer for the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians, helped organize the harvest and was a member of the team who worked for nearly 12 hours on the beach Tuesday.<\/p>\n

This was the first time in generations that the Siletz tribe has harvested a whale, she said. Nobody in the tribe had ever done it before, and nobody could remember the last time it happened. Ancestors of some of the 30 bands that make up the tribe hunted and harvested whales, but those cultural practices had long been suppressed by the U.S. government. The Siletz tribe has only recently regained<\/a> its fishing and hunting rights (the tribe still needed a special permit to harvest the humpback).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe recognized the importance of what could be with this,\u201d Norton said. \u201cI prefer to think of it as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that we can learn from.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was also an enormous undertaking.<\/p>\n

\u201cExhausting would be an understatement,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\"StrandedVeterinarians and other experts conduct a necropsy on the stranded humpback whale.Oregon State University Marine Mammal Institute\/Craig Hayslip<\/p>\n

The young humpback whale came ashore<\/a> north of Yachats on Saturday afternoon. Over the next 48 hours, people flocked to the beach<\/a> to help the still-living whale, despite urges from the Oregon Marine Mammal Stranding Network not to do so. Online, thousands watched a live stream<\/a> of the event, pouring out their sympathies for the animal in Facebook comments.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, 50 miles up the coast, Siletz tribal members were gathered at the Chinook Winds Casino Resort for the tribe\u2019s annual Restoration Powwow, which celebrates the restoration of the tribe\u2019s federal recognition in 1977. Word about the whale spread around the powwow, where some prayed and danced for the whale, Norton said.<\/p>\n

On Monday, when it was clear the humpback would not survive and would ultimately need to be euthanized<\/a>, Oregon State Police (who had previously worked with the tribe) reached out to the tribe about the possibility of harvesting the animal. The tribe rushed to secure the proper permits and assembled a team of hunters to take apart the whale.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat an incredible privilege and a daunting task,\u201d Norton said. \u201cThe folks that stood up and said \u2018we could do this\u2019 were very brave. And what they did was a very important piece to the next chapter of this whale.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Siletz hunters got to the beach around noon Tuesday, when a crowd of people was already gathered around the whale. Members of the West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Network, the Oregon State University Marine Mammal Institute, Oregon State Parks, Oregon Fish and Wildlife Department and half a dozen other agencies had spent days with the whale, trying to find a way for it to survive. After performing a final necropsy, those agencies stepped back to allow the tribe to take over.<\/p>\n

Before anyone cut into the animal, they smudged and prayed over its body. They honored the animal for its sacrifice. They offered thanks to the bounty it provided. They asked Creator to guide their hands.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is what you do,\u201d Norton said. \u201cAs experienced hunters we always give thanks to what has been provided.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"HumpbackWaves crashed into the stranded whale on Sunday morning. Courtesy of Devin Northrup<\/p>\n

Some members of the team had stayed up late Monday night, researching the bone structure of humpback whales, which parts should be taken, how to cut into the animal. Once on the beach, they also relied on their own instinct as hunters. But the whale was very different from an elk, Norton said, and not just because it was 30 times as big. <\/p>\n

The team already knew that unlike the tribe\u2019s ancestors, they wouldn\u2019t harvest any meat from the whale. Since the animal had been chemically sedated and euthanized, everyone was concerned the meat wouldn\u2019t be safe for human consumption. But there was still plenty to harvest. The team took most of the whale\u2019s blubber, thousands of pounds of it, as well as virtually all its bones. They also separated the head so they could later harvest the baleen, the keratin structure that helps the whale filter feed in the ocean. <\/p>\n

As they worked into the night, the tribe got a helping hand from Tru-North Construction, local contractors who were on site with heavy equipment. The contractors used an excavator to dig a trench for the whale meat and organs that wouldn\u2019t be used and helped maneuver the animal around for the team of harvesters. The company also provided a flatbed truck to help transport what the tribe had harvested.<\/p>\n

Lorin Lynch, owner of Tru-North, said he had been at the beach for three days helping the efforts to save the whale. He said he was frustrated at how officials handled the situation and unhappy with the decision to chemically euthanize the whale, but ultimately was more than happy to help the tribe harvest the body.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy whole perspective in life is to train to help others,\u201d Lynch said. \u201cWe were there willing to help, whatever they asked for whatever they needed.\u201d<\/p>\n

When the sun rose over the beach the next morning, the spot where people had spent days trying to save the dying whale was now a mess of meat and skin \u2014 food for the foragers that would clean it all up.<\/p>\n

To some, it may seem like a gruesome end to a tragic story, Norton said, but for the tribe it was a heartfelt experience that honored the life so many had tried to save.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we were processing and collecting these materials, folks were telling us the stories of how strong this whale was,\u201d Norton said. \u201cThat story will stay with each of those pieces that are then put back out in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The tribe has not yet decided what, exactly, they\u2019re going to do with the animal parts. They plan to render the blubber down to oil, but they\u2019re first going to check to make sure it isn\u2019t toxic. Whale bones have historically been used to make tools or art, which are possibilities, Norton said, and baleen can be used to decorate regalia. One elder told her that a large whale vertebrae makes a nice stool.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe anticipate that this process is going to continue for a year or two until it\u2019s done,\u201d Norton said.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Oregon officials will investigate the whale\u2019s death<\/a>. NOAA Fisheries linked the gear that entangled the whale to Oregon\u2019s commercial Dungeness crab fishery and is now looking into how the entanglement and stranding happened. Oregon State University\u2019s Veterinary Diagnostic Lab said the whale seemed to be in \u201cfair body condition\u201d at the time of the incident but plans to release more details as they complete the necropsy.<\/p>\n

While beached whales are not rare in Oregon, it\u2019s uncommon to see healthy whales wash up alive. In a cruel irony, had the whale been dead, the Siletz tribe wouldn\u2019t have harvested it, they said. The fact that their beautiful experience was born from tragedy is not lost on them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were tears shed for the whale, but there were tears of joy because of this incredible opportunity,\u201d Norton said. \u201cAs sad as it was, it was an abundance.\u201d<\/p>\n

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