A dead humpback whale was discovered along the shore of the Virginia Beach Oceanfront Sunday morning, a rare sighting many beach residents had never seen before.
“I’ve been here my whole life and I’ve never seen it up this close.” Giada Cavaliere, a Virginia Beach Resident said.
Witnesses at the beach noticed the whale early Sunday. “I was looking out my balcony and I saw people gathering and I could see a big hump at the edge of the ocean, and I thought oh, somebody’s down there saving a whale or something.” Leslyn Johnson said.
The young whale was found beached between 24th and 25th streets. Beachgoers told 13News Now that crews responded at around 10:30 a.m.
It’s the 5th whale to wash up in recent years.
Rescue staff from the Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center used heavy equipment to move the juvenile humpback whale out of the surf. Aquarium staff say the whale is a male, anywhere from 4-10 years old and is nearly 32 feet long.
