30-foot humpback is second dead whale to wash up on NJ beach in 2 weeks, officials say

Experts are trying to find out what killed a 30-foot humpback whale found on an Atlantic City beach, New Jersey officials told news outlets.

It’s the second dead whale to wash ashore at a beach in the city in two weeks, KYW-TV reported. Another humpback was found dead Dec. 23 near the Tropicana casino.

The latest dead whale was reported just blocks away at 8 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 7, NJ.com reported. About 100 people watched a bulldozer push the whale away from the surf.

A necropsy will be conducted to try to determine the whale’s cause of death, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The whale will then be buried on the beach.

“You can’t tow something that big away,” Sheila Dean, executive director of the Marine Mammal Stranding Center, told the publication. “It’s a navigation hazard.”

Dean told The Press of Atlantic City that the whale appeared to have died fairly recently.

“It’s sad,” resident Daryl Bulthuis told The Philadelphia Inquirer. “But even though it is sad, it is a part of nature.”