Crews remove humpback whale carcass off coast
By Russ Reed
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KENNEBUNK, Maine (WMTW) — Kennebunk Public Works crews worked with Marine Mammals of Maine to remove the carcass of a humpback whale that got hung up on an island off the coast.
The Wells Police Department said that on Friday morning, Wells Animal Control Officer Ashley Johnston and Wells Police Sgt. Christopher Baez helped Wells Harbor Master Michael Yorke and his team monitor the dead humpback.
Marine Mammals of Maine identified the whale as an adult female named “Lollipop” who had been outfitted with a tracking tab by the Center for Coastal Studies to assist stranding networks with response efforts.
Lollipop was floating approximately 2 miles off the coast of Wells as of noon Friday, and her carcass was drifting northwest, according to police.
Kennebunk Fire Chief Justin Cooper told Maine’s Total Coverage that Marine Mammals of Maine notified Kennebunk Harbor Master Jamie Houtz on Friday that the Lollipop’s GPS tracker was showing she would land on a Kennebunk beach.
Marine Mammals of Maine said Lollipop’s carcass landed on Strawberry Island, which is off the coast of Kennebunk, early Sunday morning.
According to Cooper, Houtz and his team were able to get Lollipop’s carcass into the harbor and onto a beach off Great Hill Road so that Kennebunk Public Works crews could access it with loaders.
Marine Mammals of Maine said members of the organization conducted an exam on Lollipop’s carcass to gather as much information about her death as possible but noted that the significant decomposition that had already taken place limited what they could learn about the humpback whale’s passing.
Lollipop was the third deceased whale to be found off the coast of southern Maine in a two-month period.
On June 5, a 40-foot-long female humpback named “Chunk” was found dead after it was reported that she was trapped in a net off Cape Elizabeth. Maine Marine Patrol towed Chunk’s body back to Portland the following day and pulled it from the harbor. A necropsy completed by Marine Mammals of Maine and its partners revealed Chunk had congested lungs consistent with acute drowning and injuries related to the entanglement.
On June 24, the carcass of a humpback whale got stuck on the ledges in front of the Cribstone Bridge in Harpswell between Orr’s Island and Bailey Island. That bridge is also known as the Bailey Island Bridge. The dead whale was removed from Will’s Gut two days later. It was not immediately clear if the whale had died from natural causes or something else.
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