Dead Whale Washes Ashore in Carlsbad
The body of a 15-foot, 900-pound baby gray whale washed ashore in Carlsbad on Sunday morning with a rope attached to its tail, Carlsbad State Park officials said.
The decomposing whale has posed a mystery because it appears to be the same one that washed ashore Thursday in Cardiff, said Ken Burton, a supervising ranger with the state Parks Department.
“The mystery is that it went back out to sea and ended up on the beach in Carlsbad--an 8-mile jaunt,” Burton said. “I don’t have a clue as to how it did that.”
Burton investigated the whale that washed ashore Thursday as well as the similar one that came ashore Sunday. Both whales were the same size with identical markings and a rope around the tail that looked like it came from a lobster trap. In addition, the two carcasses had shark bites.
“It could be a different whale, but I don’t think so,” Burton said.
Burton has two theories to explain the mysterious transport of the whale: Someone towed the whale, or it washed back into the water and was caught in a strong current that deposited it on the shores of Cardiff.
“It’s a mystery,” Burton said.
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