The carcass of an 18-foot-long whale washed ashore in La Jolla Shores the evening of April 24, and the remains were taken to a landfill the next morning, officials said.
The whale was found around 5:45 p.m. in front of the La Jolla Shores Hotel at 8110 Camino del Oro, north of the boat launch, according to San Diego city spokesman Jose Ysea.
The whale’s body was very decomposed and officials were uncertain what species it was or what led to its death.
Scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration took a tissue sample from the whale and hoped to learn more about it after doing genetic testing, said NOAA representative Michael Milstein.
“Hopefully that will identify the species of whale and possibly provide other details,” Milstein said. “It is possibly a gray whale but too decomposed to immediately tell. This is the time when grays are migrating north.”
The whale’s remains were taken to the Miramar landfill, officials said.
The incident occurred two months after a struggling young whale died after beaching itself Feb. 22 near The Marine Room restaurant in La Jolla Shores.
That whale, a 24-foot gray weighing about 11,000 pounds, was likely a year or two old, according to a NOAA representative.
— San Diego Union-Tribune staff writer Teri Figueroa contributed to this report. ◆
