Experts are hurrying to rescue a large sperm whale that has stranded itself on a sandbar.
The 70-foot whale is stranded not far off Florida’s Gulf Coast and Venice police say the huge mammal is still alive.
It beached on a sandbar about 50 years from Service Club Park, and a cordon has been put in place to keep people away and allow authorities to assess the whale’s health.
Police as well as staff from Mote Marine Laboratory are currently at the scene.
The whale is currently mostly submerged in seawater – but due to the location of the sandbar, it’s unable to move.
While it may seem like an obvious solution, it’s rarely appropriate for beached whales to simply be moved straight back into the sea.
Attempts to push whales back into the sea, while well-intentioned, could cause them painful injuries. As they’re such huge creatures, if they thrash they could further injure themselves or the people involved.
Plus most whales are just far too big for most easily obtainable netting – and digging underneath a whale to slide the straps below is very difficult and dangerous.
There’s also the possibility that the whale could have beached itself due to disease. If it is reintroduced back to the wild, it could pass on that illness and potentially cause more beachings later.
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