BAR HARBOR, Maine - Scientists are investigating the Maine death of a 35-foot-long humpback whale that had a history of becoming entangled in fishing rope.
WLBZ-TV reports a necropsy of the whale, called Spinnaker, is expected to provide clues about how the animal may have been injured in recent entanglements. The whale was well known to scientists and whale watchers in the Gulf of Maine.
Scientists say Spinnaker had been disentangled from fishing rope at least three times in her 11 years of life. She washed up at Great Head in Acadia National Park on June 11 and was towed to a beach in Hulls Cove by a stranding team on Saturday. Spinnaker was most recently freed from ropes on May 14 about 90 miles off of Provincetown.