A young sperm whale that stranded Tuesday morning on New York’s Rockaway Peninsula has died after a valiant attempt by surfers to save the mammal.
The accompanying footage, captured by Timothy Moriarty, shows several surfers attempting to shove the 35-foot whale into deeper water against the tidal surge.
According to the Rockaway Times, the whale was spotted trapped on a jetty by Army Corps contractors from Michels at 7:30 a.m.
The contractors, who were on an unrelated job, helped surfers free the whale from the jetty. But the mammal did not swim off and later died.
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Contractors used heavy equipment to haul the whale ashore as biologists reportedly were en route to perform a necropsy that could determine the cause of death.
The Rockaway Times uploaded several images of the incident to Facebook.
The stranding occurred in the Queens neighborhood of Arverne.