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In a highly visible operation at a state park near Yachats, crews struggled to free a young humpback whale that was stranded in the surf and that may have been caught in crab-pot gear.
This story was updated to include new information from Oregon State University.
Between crashes of ocean waves came a chirping cry that echoed across the dark beach on a frigid Saturday night in Yachats.
Darting headlamps briefly lit a young humpback whale stranded in shallow water. About five people, some in wetsuits, formed a line to cool the whale with five-gallon buckets, hoping to counter the heat trapped by its insulating blubber.
Near the bluffs, Mary Demott watched with other onlookers, trying to make out any signs of progress as they waited for a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration team, which had not yet arrived.
“People were upset,” said Demott, a veteran advocate in marine conservation along the West Coast. “The only hope was in the morning and the high tide.”
Demott splits her time between homes in Eugene and Yachats. In Yachats, Demott has gotten to know the work of trusted local biologists such as Carrie Newell, who arrived at daybreak Sunday. Newell made her way through a large crowd to get close enough to the 26-foot whale to see its bumps and barnacles — and yellow rope in its mouth.
“This whale apparently got stranded after it was tangled in line from a crab pot,” Newell posted on the Facebook page for Whale Research EcoExcursions, an eco tour agency where she continues the education work she once did as a professor at Lane Community College.
“Reports of whales getting entangled in these lines happen 2-3 times per year,” she wrote. “I am [hoping] for a miracle for this beautiful animal.”
As of Monday, Nov. 17, the whale was still alive, but a miracle looked unlikely. Newell was among researchers from several organizations including Oregon State University and the Oregon Coast Aquarium, and they had exhausted attempts to move the animal.
While it had shown some fight over the weekend, rolling and waving its fins, the nearly 40,000-pound whale didn’t budge as it moved farther onto land and sank deeper into the wet sand.
Crews began a rescue attempt before dawn Monday, working to place a harness around the whale’s pectoral fins and head so they could rotate it perpendicular to the surf and pull it seaward with a boat. The line parted before it was tethered to the boat.
The effort to save the whale unfolded in the public eye at San Marine State Park, its visibility amplified by thousands of views on social media. That attention has also led to misinformation about the whale’s fate, including fake AI-generated content.
Lisa Ballance, director of Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute, confirmed to Lookout Eugene-Springfield that responders decided to euthanize the whale. After the failed rescue, crews agreed it would not survive and that euthanasia was the most humane option.
Two veterinarians — one from the Marine Mammal Center in California and another from SR3 SeaLife Response in Washington — sedated the whale late Monday afternoon. They euthanized the whale around 3 p.m. after it was beached for nearly 45 hours.
Researchers and onlookers alike were emotional in what Ballance described as a “tragic event” they had hoped would end differently.
“It’s very difficult to witness a live whale coming on the beach, and it’s impossible to not be deeply moved,” she said. “We were unable to save it despite our best efforts.”
