Puerto Rico authorities on alert for stranded whales

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – A 12-foot pilot whale has washed ashore in northwestern Puerto Rico and put authorities on alert for the possibility of more stranded whales.

Biologist Grisel Rodriguez of the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources says that the agency consulted with federal authorities and euthanized the young adult male because its health was too compromised to survive. A necropsy was being performed to determine if the whale suffered from a disease or had ingested something that made it ill.

Rodriguez said Saturday there had been other sightings of the mammals and expressed concern there could be more distressed whales in the area. Pilot whales travel in close groups and are often involved in mass strandings.

The biologist says pilot whales live year round off Puerto Rico’s northwest coast.

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