Newport Beach lifeguards worked to get a dead humpback whale away from the shoreline on Wednesday. (Photo courtesy of Mark Girardeau)
By LAYLAN CONNELLY | [email protected]
Orange County Register
Newport Beach lifeguards on a rescue boat worked Thursday to tow the dead humpback back out to sea before it made land — a problem that could attract some unwanted visitors.
“We don’t want it to attract any big fish, so we will tow it as far as possible away from the swimmers,” Leeper said.
After lifeguards spotted the whale about 3 p.m., they tied a rope around the whale’s tail to drag it back out to sea. It was not an easy task given the whale’s hundreds of tons and the added weight from bloating, Leeper estimated.
Photographer Mark Girardeau, who specializes in whale images, jumped aboard a Newport Coastal Adventure boat to document the creature and try to identify the species, which he determined to be a humpback whale. He said it was a full-grown adult, identifiable by its big pectoral fin.