An emaciated baby whale washed up on Butler Beach last month after ingesting a large plastic bag, according to St. Johns County officials.
In an Instagram post, St. Johns County Beach Services said a resident called a hotline on September 16 to report that a baby dolphin had washed ashore.
Florida Wildlife Commission staff and volunteers determined that it was actually a dwarf sperm whale calf and brought it to a veterinarian for examination.
Video taken at the beach shows the stricken whale still alive but clearly in distress.
The whale was “very thin, had minor cuts from beaching, and its mother was nowhere in sight,” the post stated.
Officials later determined that it would not survive and the whale was humanely euthanized.
A necropsy revealed the presence of a large plastic bag in its stomach.
The item, officials said, had caused “associated ulcers.”
SJCBS reminded beachgoers not to place washed up marine animals back in the surf, and that doing so further endangers them.
“It stranded for a reason,” the post states.
