Sharks Close Beaches in N.Y.

Sharks feeding on a dead 40-foot finback whale today forced police to close all town beaches in this eastern Long Island resort community.

The dead whale was beached at the foot of Whaler’s Lane in Amagansett, a part of East Hampton. Police Officer Michael Seitz said parts of the whale, apparently ripped off by the sharks, have been seen in the Atlantic as far as five miles away from the site of the carcass. Seitz said some of the sharks have “come as close as three feet from shore” to feed on the whale.