30,000 pound Fin whale dies at Santa Cruz beach

Well, this afternoon, authorities in Santa Cruz are working on a plan to haul away a dead 30,000-pound whale out of the ocean. Experts say the incoming weather and high surf we are expecting over the next few days makes it too risky to tow the whale out into the open ocean. All right, so let's talk about what comes next here, and let's go to KTVU's Mark Sayre, who's joining us live from Santa Cruz this afternoon with the latest details on what authorities are planning to do. Mark? Well, Alex Heather, we're here on Cowell Beach that is right next to the Santa Cruz Wharf and at this point the whale remains in the ocean and this beach remains closed off by Santa Cruz police. In this video from Sky Fox, you can see the whale washing up against the shoreline at Cowell Beach. The whale was alive when the first reports came in at around 8 a.m., and experts were able to see that the whale was still breathing. But around 10.15, they believe the fin whale, estimated at up to 30,000 pounds, died on the shoreline. It appears very emaciated. Robin Duncan with the UC Santa Cruz Long Marine Lab says it is too early to say why the whale died, but there is evidence that it was suffering from some kind of long-term illness, making any kind of rescue or medical aid impossible. So we carefully watched the animal this morning for two hours or so, looking at breaths, counting respirations, watching the animal, and then determined it passed away around 10-15 this morning. Due to the incoming storms and expected high surf, authorities decided that the safest thing to do was to bring the whale ashore rather than towing it back out to sea. Due to its condition, the whale would likely sink immediately once in open water, posing a danger to the towing crew and the boat. The whale could also possibly wash back to shore in a big storm. Erica Smart is with the City of Santa Cruz. Right now the city is primarily concerned about the big swell that we have coming in, the large storm. The whale brought hundreds of people to the beach, and spectators lined the Santa Cruz wharf looking at what is an example of Mother Nature on full display. Local resident and photographer Jody Fridiani says it is also an example of the circle of life. When you see a creature like this passed away on the shore, is it sad? Tell us your emotions. It's always sad. It's always sad. You know, nature takes care of... Care of things, we all die, and then in the ocean, this animal would go, carcass would sink to the bottom and provide food for a whole other ecosystem. Okay, back to a live picture now here at Cowell Beach in Santa Cruz. You can see the whale there on the beach. Let me tell you what's happened in about the last hour. They did bring in a couple of front loaders to try to actually move the whale to bring it up closer to the shoreline. That effort apparently was only partially successful. The city of Santa Cruz has just let us know that it's going to likely be until tomorrow before they're able to get this whale up, presumably put it on some kind of flatbed and take it to some unknown storage location. We've been talking a lot about the weather. We have We also have an update on the weather situation down here in Santa Cruz. The city of Santa Cruz has announced that starting tomorrow night and all day Saturday, they're actually going to be closing the wharf here off to my right-hand side and also closing all of the beaches here in Santa Cruz due to the high surf danger. So if you were considering coming down to Santa Cruz for the weekend on Saturday to check out the waves, you're not going to be able to do that at the wharf. Also at City Beaches, Alex Heather, they're trying to get ahead of this and make sure nobody comes down, not only to look at the whale, but they want people to stay safe, so they're going to close the beaches and the wharf over the weekend. Back to you. Yeah, taking those precautions. Absolutely. All right. All right. Mark Sayre, live for us in Santa Cruz. Mark, thank you.