{"id":333596,"date":"2025-12-24T17:06:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T17:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/333596\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T17:06:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T17:06:08","slug":"rescuers-make-difficult-decision-after-finding-whale-in-heartbreaking-predicament-a-painful-reminder","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/333596\/","title":{"rendered":"Rescuers make difficult decision after finding whale in heartbreaking predicament: ‘A painful reminder’"},"content":{"rendered":"

A heartbreaking scene<\/a> unfolded on the Oregon Coast after a young humpback whale became stranded near San Marine and could not be freed despite extensive rescue efforts.<\/p>\n

What happened?<\/p>\n

Crews and community members worked through the weekend of November 15 and 16 and into Monday, but experts ultimately made the difficult decision to humanely euthanize the animal.<\/p>\n

One advocate said it was “a painful reminder” of the preventable dangers that whales face from entanglement in fishing gear.<\/p>\n

The whale reportedly became tangled<\/a> in a line from a crab pot on the Saturday night, as photos shared online suggested.<\/p>\n

Responders from NOAA Fisheries, the Oregon Marine Mammal Stranding Network, and the Oregon State Police arrived to help.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, witnesses dug trenches to keep the whale in the water during high tide. Rescue crews also used a pulley system to try turning the whale toward the sea.<\/p>\n

On Monday morning, rescuers placed a bridle around the 26-foot, roughly 6,000-pound humpback and attempted to guide it during high tide.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the lines broke, and the bridle slipped off. With the tide falling quickly, another attempt wasn’t possible.<\/p>\n

“Trying to get a 6,000-pound animal off the beach is quite an undertaking,” said<\/a> Jane Holbrook of the Oregon Marine Mammal Stranding Network.<\/p>\n

By late morning, officials said the whale was unlikely to survive until the next high tide. Because euthanasia had been identified as the most humane option<\/a> if rescue attempts failed, experts carried it out around 3 p.m.<\/p>\n

A necropsy will be conducted next to examine how the entanglement contributed to the whale’s stranding.<\/p>\n

Why is whale entanglement concerning?<\/p>\n

Entanglement in fishing gear is a major threat to whales on the West Coast, especially humpback whales.<\/p>\n

NOAA Fisheries reported<\/a> that entanglements can cause severe injuries, limit a whale’s ability to swim or feed, and can often lead to prolonged suffering or death.<\/p>\n

“The whale’s death is a painful reminder of a preventable problem,” said Ben Enticknap of Oceana Fisheries.<\/p>\n

In 2024, NOAA confirmed<\/a> 36 entangled whales off the coasts of Oregon, Washington, and California \u2013 the highest number since 2018, with humpbacks making up most cases.<\/p>\n

What’s being done about whale entanglement?<\/p>\n

Oregon has reduced<\/a> the amount of commercial crab gear in the water and temporarily closed some coastal areas during seasons when whales were most likely to be present.<\/p>\n

Researchers are also working with fishermen to test on-demand or “ropeless” fishing gear<\/a> that removes many of the vertical lines that whales encounter.<\/p>\n

Officials encourage the public to report stranded or injured marine mammals to the Marine Mammal Stranding Network and to always keep a safe distance so that trained responders can work safely.<\/p>\n

Get TCD’s free newsletters<\/a> for easy tips to save more, waste less, and make smarter choices \u2014 and earn up to $5,000 toward clean upgrades in TCD’s exclusive Rewards Club<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A heartbreaking scene unfolded on the Oregon Coast after a young humpback whale became stranded near San Marine…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333597,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[37448,22114,129900,129903,129902,129901,129904,90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":["post-333596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-fishing-gear","tag-humpback-whale","tag-noaa-fisheries","tag-oregon-coast","tag-oregon-marine-mammal-stranding-network","tag-oregon-state-police","tag-painful-reminder","tag-science","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333596","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333596"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333596\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}