Metro

30-foot whale dies after washing ashore in NYC

A massive 30-foot Sei whale washed ashore in Brooklyn Monday morning — but it died before anyone could save it.

The whale’s carcass, which was discovered around 9:30 a.m., was towed by the NYPD Harbor Patrol to the New Jersey side of the harbor and loaded onto a barge.

Edwin Lopez, 53, was walking his dog on the pier as he does everyday when a friend of his pointed out something floating in the water off of the 58th Street pier in Brooklyn.

Lopez took out his binoculars and saw the dead whale carcass coming towards the dock as the tide was coming in.

The carcass was belly up and appeared to have a large gash across it, Lopez said.

“[It] must have been in the water for a while because it had a stench,” he said. “I would have liked it to be alive.”

A team from Riverhead Foundation, a rescue program that specializes in marine mammals and sea turtles, will head to Jersey City Tuesday to perform a necropsy to determine what killed the whale.

While it is uncommon, it is not surprising that a Sei whale would be found in the Hudson as it is a normal migratory route for the species, Rob DiGiovanni, executive director at Riverhead said.

Lopez said he’s heard of dolphins and seals coming into the harbor, but not whales.

“To see a whale in these waters is very rare, especially so far into the harbor,” he said. “That’s not supposed to happen.”

Edwin Lopez