An 18-foot minke whale that became trapped in the shallow ocean waters of a Cape Cod harbor has died.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare reported the minke whale (part of a smaller species of whale), had washed up on sand in Chatham's Stage Harbor on Thursday morning. Members of the wildlife organization tried to rescue it, but were ultimately unable to move it. Reports said the rescuers hoped the animal would follow the outgoing tides.
IFAW confirmed in a tweet Friday morning that the whale had died. The organization said it would perform a necropsy to determine the cause of death. One IFAW representative told reporters on Thursday that sand had scraped the whale's body, specifically its dorsal fin.
The unusual site of the beached whale attracted onlookers in Chatham on Thursday. A photo by IFAW shows the top of the whale's body exposed to the air as it sat in Stage Harbor's shallow waters.