Anchorage's fin whale skeleton recovered after warming weather, soft mudflats complicate efforts
Apr. 30—Update, Wednesday: Volunteers with Vulcan Towing in Anchorage helped Museum of Alaska director James Grogan extract almost all of the remaining bones from a fin whale on Cook Inlet mudflats on Tuesday.
All that remained of the whale was a pool of tissue and blubber, floating off the coastal trail to the west of Lyn Ary Park in the Turnagain area.
The bones are now at the Museum of Alaska in Wasilla, where they will be cleaned in a process that uses microbes to strip away remaining flesh and then rearticulated into a planned display for the public, Grogan said.
Original story:
James Grogan woke up Monday discouraged: It seemed his dream of recovering a complete skeleton from the 48-foot fin whale that washed up on the Anchorage mudflats in November might be slipping away with the tide.
With permission from federal wildlife officials, he and dozens of volunteers disassembled much of the carcass in March.
Back then, the mudflats near Fish Creek estuary were still frozen enough to walk, ride a bike or push a stroller to the whale. Thousands of people, including whole classes of schoolchildren, made the trek out to see the juvenile female fin whale, the second-largest species of cetacean on earth.
The bones had been trucked up to Wasilla, where Grogan hoped to clean them and eventually rearticulate the fin whale skeleton into an educational display at the Museum of Alaska in Wasilla, where he is the executive director.
But the plans ran into a snag.
In March, the ground had been too frozen to pry out much of the whale's structure, including the spine. The group had been forced to leave the RV-sized carcass in the mudflats, with the hopes that spring melt would bring more favorable conditions. In recent weeks, the remains drew dozens of birds, including juvenile eagles and ravens perching on the vertebrae like barstools.
Winter became spring and the mudflats softened, posing a new set of troubles for recovery of the whale, which sat firm near the Fish Creek estuary.
Last Thursday, Grogan and a few volunteers used a rugged amphibious all-terrain Hägglunds vehicle to get out to the whale before a series of high tides. It was sketchy, Grogan said: The softened mudflats were like quicksand, and the vehicle almost got bogged down, leaving deep ruts.
"It put us in a bad position," he said. Grogan felt it was so dangerous that he wouldn't return to the whale in a vehicle. Then, high tides floated the carcass, sending it west. The question was whether he and his volunteers could keep up — or get back out to the animal to try to remove heavy vertebrae from squelching mudflats.
"She's actually working her way down the coastline to the west," Grogan said Monday morning. "We're trying to keep up with her, but the mudflats are too dangerous for us to get out."
He sounded resigned.
"If we have to wait much longer, the ocean might take her back," he said. "Which is great, but we'd sure like to have the rest of the skeleton."
He said he'd been "calling people like crazy."
"Do you know anyone with a crane?" he asked.
Then, Monday afternoon, Grogan got a welcome phone call from MaryBeth Printz, a longtime Turnagain neighborhood resident who visits the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail daily. Printz reported that the whale carcass had been lifted by the tide and deposited at a favorable spot for Grogan's interests, right on the beach to the west of Lyn Ary Park.
By late afternoon, Grogan was out at the pungent carcass, along with a volunteer from Alaska Veterinary Pathology Services. Together, they worked to stake down the whale's vertebrae so that another high tide wouldn't wash the rest of the animal back into the channel of the inlet.
Still, the job of disassembling what was left of the whale seemed major, with two people hacking away at a mountain of gelatinous tissue. Each vertebrae was about 15 pounds, he said. Grogan jokingly recruited joggers and bikers passing by on the trail, covering their noses with shirts.
"Come on down," he said. "I'll get you some gloves."
There was talk of using a towing boom truck to try to lift the whale, but arrangements needed to be made for safe use of the trail and permission from the city, according to Grogan.
At high tide Monday night, the diminishing remains of the whale were partly submerged in silty gray water, but looked firmly tied to the beach. Grogan said he was calling anyone he could for help, equipment, ideas.
Tuesday would bring another afternoon low tide and a chance to try again.
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Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Yahoo
Anchorage's fin whale skeleton recovered after warming weather, soft mudflats complicate efforts
Apr. 30—Update, Wednesday: Volunteers with Vulcan Towing in Anchorage helped Museum of Alaska director James Grogan extract almost all of the remaining bones from a fin whale on Cook Inlet mudflats on Tuesday. All that remained of the whale was a pool of tissue and blubber, floating off the coastal trail to the west of Lyn Ary Park in the Turnagain area. The bones are now at the Museum of Alaska in Wasilla, where they will be cleaned in a process that uses microbes to strip away remaining flesh and then rearticulated into a planned display for the public, Grogan said. Original story: James Grogan woke up Monday discouraged: It seemed his dream of recovering a complete skeleton from the 48-foot fin whale that washed up on the Anchorage mudflats in November might be slipping away with the tide. With permission from federal wildlife officials, he and dozens of volunteers disassembled much of the carcass in March. Back then, the mudflats near Fish Creek estuary were still frozen enough to walk, ride a bike or push a stroller to the whale. Thousands of people, including whole classes of schoolchildren, made the trek out to see the juvenile female fin whale, the second-largest species of cetacean on earth. The bones had been trucked up to Wasilla, where Grogan hoped to clean them and eventually rearticulate the fin whale skeleton into an educational display at the Museum of Alaska in Wasilla, where he is the executive director. But the plans ran into a snag. In March, the ground had been too frozen to pry out much of the whale's structure, including the spine. The group had been forced to leave the RV-sized carcass in the mudflats, with the hopes that spring melt would bring more favorable conditions. In recent weeks, the remains drew dozens of birds, including juvenile eagles and ravens perching on the vertebrae like barstools. Winter became spring and the mudflats softened, posing a new set of troubles for recovery of the whale, which sat firm near the Fish Creek estuary. Last Thursday, Grogan and a few volunteers used a rugged amphibious all-terrain Hägglunds vehicle to get out to the whale before a series of high tides. It was sketchy, Grogan said: The softened mudflats were like quicksand, and the vehicle almost got bogged down, leaving deep ruts. "It put us in a bad position," he said. Grogan felt it was so dangerous that he wouldn't return to the whale in a vehicle. Then, high tides floated the carcass, sending it west. The question was whether he and his volunteers could keep up — or get back out to the animal to try to remove heavy vertebrae from squelching mudflats. "She's actually working her way down the coastline to the west," Grogan said Monday morning. "We're trying to keep up with her, but the mudflats are too dangerous for us to get out." He sounded resigned. "If we have to wait much longer, the ocean might take her back," he said. "Which is great, but we'd sure like to have the rest of the skeleton." He said he'd been "calling people like crazy." "Do you know anyone with a crane?" he asked. Then, Monday afternoon, Grogan got a welcome phone call from MaryBeth Printz, a longtime Turnagain neighborhood resident who visits the Tony Knowles Coastal Trail daily. Printz reported that the whale carcass had been lifted by the tide and deposited at a favorable spot for Grogan's interests, right on the beach to the west of Lyn Ary Park. By late afternoon, Grogan was out at the pungent carcass, along with a volunteer from Alaska Veterinary Pathology Services. Together, they worked to stake down the whale's vertebrae so that another high tide wouldn't wash the rest of the animal back into the channel of the inlet. Still, the job of disassembling what was left of the whale seemed major, with two people hacking away at a mountain of gelatinous tissue. Each vertebrae was about 15 pounds, he said. Grogan jokingly recruited joggers and bikers passing by on the trail, covering their noses with shirts. "Come on down," he said. "I'll get you some gloves." There was talk of using a towing boom truck to try to lift the whale, but arrangements needed to be made for safe use of the trail and permission from the city, according to Grogan. At high tide Monday night, the diminishing remains of the whale were partly submerged in silty gray water, but looked firmly tied to the beach. Grogan said he was calling anyone he could for help, equipment, ideas. Tuesday would bring another afternoon low tide and a chance to try again.
Yahoo
15-03-2025
- Yahoo
Skeleton of fin whale that washed ashore in Anchorage will go to Wasilla museum
Mar. 15—The 47-foot fin whale that washed up on the Anchorage mudflats in November, drawing hundreds of visitors and becoming a citywide phenomenon, has found a permanent home at a Wasilla museum. Remains of the whale — withered by time, but still recognizable — have been frozen into the tidal flats off West Anchorage since the creature first came in on a high tide in November, surviving tides, vandals and periods of unusually warm weather. The whale has now been on the mudflats for four months. A tissue necropsy has not yet yielded a cause of death for the juvenile female animal, said Jennifer Angelo, a public affairs officer with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Alaska office. Scientists are still taking samples from the whale and reviewing test results, and it's possible further examination could provide new answers, Angelo said. NOAA has asked the public to stay away from the carcass. "Marine mammals can transmit disease to humans and pets, and high tides and quicksand-like mud in the area can pose potential dangers," Angelo said. The Museum of Alaska in Wasilla, formerly known as the Alaska Museum of Transportation and Industry, plans to take possession of whale's skeleton for use in an eventual educational display, said the museum's curator and chief executive, James Grogan. NOAA is working with the museum on a request for an authorization under the Marine Mammal Protection Act that would allow the organization to collect and display the fin whale bones for educational purposes, Angelo said. Grogan said he is a former Air Force pilot and high school science teacher with "zero experience" with whales, but learned that other institutions had not expressed interest in taking on the whale skeleton and thought his museum — basically a one-man operation open seasonally and run on a shoestring budget — could. "I came up with the idea of, what if we harvested it, processed it to use it for education and to promote whaling and oceans in Alaska," Grogan said in a phone interview. The museum sits on 40 acres of land in Wasilla with a collection that includes helicopters, commercial fishing boats, train cars and tractors, among other exhibits. It has only been open in the summer in the past, but this year has been open for most of winter as well. The museum has never had anything like a whale, Grogan said. But he hopes it will become the beginning of a natural history exhibition that could draw more students. The plan, Grogan said, is to go out to the mudflats late in March on a low-tide day, catalog the parts with biologists and then — with a crew of volunteers — take the whale apart, removing the bones for the future articulated skeleton display and leaving the remaining blubber and tissue to go out to sea. The whale bones will be pulled with plastic sleds up to the coastal trail and onto trucks, where they will be taken to Wasilla and readied for display. "We have to catalog every single, you know, left rib, right rib, left vertebrae, right vertebrae," he said. He said he's reached out to various zoos and wildlife facilities and no one has shown interest in taking the meat — by now quite old. It may take a year or more, he said, but the goal is to have the fin whale Southcentral Alaska came to know so well displayed for the public to see. Grogan said he's consulting with Alaska Native experts about the cultural significance of the whale as well as the biology and best way to process the animal, and working with biologists who are still trying to unlock the secrets of what killed the animal and drew it far off its normal course, to Anchorage's muddy shoreline. "I want to make sure we do it right," he said.
USA Today
06-02-2025
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Oneida County contributing to one more 'flight' for tornado-damaged B-52 bomber in Rome
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