April 18, 2007

Lost whale dies in Brooklyn waterway after beaching

Sad news for Sludgie, the baby baleen whale that showed up at the edge of Brooklyn's long-polluted Gowanus Canal just after Sunday's record-breaking Nor'easter.

The whale beached itself near Clinton Street at 5 p.m. this evening, NY1 is reporting.

The whale had scrapes and cuts, possibly caused by a pier or underwater objects, a representative of the The Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation told NY1.

The whale is currently submerged at the Hess Oil Co. dock, where it will be picked up Thursday for a necropsy, according to the Associated Press.

See NewYorkology's pictures from this morning, when the whale was still alive.

Update: The four-paragraph story in Thursday's Post is going with "Murky" as the whale's nickname instead of Sludgie. Their lead: "Brooklyn's whale sleeps with the fishes."

Earlier: Whale watching from the Home Depot parking lot
Baby whale 'Sludgie' swims into Brooklyn canal

April 18, 2007 09:36 PM in Sightsology

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