Rare Whale Washes Ashore

AVALON, NEW JERSEY--Beachgoers were given quite a shock today in Avalon after a rare off-shore whale beaches itself. Bystanders say they did all they could to try and save the large sea creature.

"It's absolutely unbelievable." Those were the only words stunned beachgoers had to describe the more than 14-foot whale that washed ashore this afternoon in Avalon. "It's just so sad and very exciting," said Ann Longaker.

"We just came down to see what was going on," said Jane Abbey, "but it was a little worse than we hoped."

Dozens watched from the shore as people jumped in the water in an attempt to try and help the rare True's Beaker Wale, weighing more than 3,000 pounds. It was something Stephen Salvensen knew he had to do. "We really wanted to do the right thing," he said, "we really felt this creature was trying to...he knew we were there."

After nearly two hours of trying to stabilize the creature, officials with the Marine Mammal Stranding Center arrived to help, although it was too late. "We did the right thing," said Salvensen, "you know...we did the best we could."

"That was what we believe to be a True's Beaked Whale," said Jay Pagel with the MMSC, "female, not sure of the age or anything, these are very rare."

At this point, officials have no idea what caused the whale to come this close to shore, especially because they're usually found more than 50 miles out at sea. Tests will be done to try and determine what went wrong. "We're gonna do our best to find out," said Pagel, "didn't see anything that was obvious, but again, we've only see a couple of these animals. They're so rare nobody seems to know much about them."

While experts don't know much about the whale just yet, those who tried to help save it say regardless of the details, it's an experience that will stick with them. "Quite an experience, no doubt about," said Salvensen, "it's one we'll definitely never forget."

Experts say it could be weeks before they learn anything about what caused the whale to was ashore. They say they've only seen a handful of the rare species in the last decade.