Officials Probe Death Of Whale In Chesapeake Bay
SALISBURY, Md. (AP) -- Wildlife officials are investigating the death of a 30-foot-long whale found in shallow water near an island in the Chesapeake Bay at the Maryland-Virginia border.
Joan Barnes of the Virginia Aquarium stranding response team tells The Daily Times on Sunday that experts have conducted a rare on-boat necropsy of the animal as its body rested in shallow water. The whale could not be towed to land.
Barnes says part of the challenge is the whale could only be approached by a shallow-water boat. It's also located at a remote island.
Officials from the Smithsonian Institution and Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries are involved in the investigation.
Barnes says the body was severely decomposed, so investigators have not been able to determine what type of whale it is.
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