PALM COAST, Fla. — A 21-foot orca whale died after beaching itself in Flagler County Wednesday.
According to the Flagler County Sheriff's Office, the orca beached itself just south of Jungle Hut Park in Palm Coast, Florida.
NOAA officials confirmed the whale may have been alive when it was initially spotted, but had died before the stranding network arrived at the beach.
Flager County officials believe the adult female whale weight at least 7,000 pounds.
County staff and SeaWorld moved the whale off the beach using bobcats.
"This is actually the first killer whale stranding ever recorded in the Southeast United States so we have never had a killer whale stranding hit our beaches here in the Southeast and the Southeast encompasses North Carolina through Texas, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, but we do know there are killer whales in those waters," said Erin Fougeres, Stranding Program Administrator with NOAA.
NOAA officials said killer whales are found throughout the world, but the event in Flager County is "rare."
There are two known stocks, one in the Atlantic and one in the Gulf of Mexico.
"There's actually two stocks of killer whales recognized, the Western North Atlantic stock and the Northern Gulf of Mexico stock and they've also been observed in the Bahamas and the wider Caribbean region," said Fougeres.
NOAA officials said in the Northern Gulf of Mexico there are about 267 killer whales in the area.
"The Northern Atlantic which would be closer to where this whale was found, we know that there is a stock out there, but how many there are is unknown and they're characterized as uncommon or rare in those waters. Although in the broader North Atlantic, we think there's about 14,000 killer whales in the entire North Atlantic between the Faroe Islands and Canada," said Fougeres.
"Killer whale species as a species are widely distributed in all the world's oceans. They're pretty much found everywhere from the Arctic and really cold waters to more tropical and offshore waters. They're pretty much found everywhere, but to manage their populations in the United States, we know some distinct groups of killer whales and so that's what we mean by "stock," those distinctive groups or populations."
Marine biologists with SeaWorld and Florida Fish and Wildlife Officials also responded to the scene. A necropsy will be performed on the orca.
