Cause of death to remain unknown for minke whale carcass that washed ashore in East Providence, R.I.

Boston Globe

12-05-2025

A very putrid smelling whale carcass washed up on the shore of Bold Point Park. The RI DEM was notified and Mystic Aquarium was notified to investigate cause of death.
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But how exactly the mammal – likely a juvenile – may have died will remain a mystery, said
Sarah Callan, the aquarium's manager of animal rescue, on Monday.
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The same carcass was reported across the bay in Providence in January, but with limited access to the water there, crews were not able to move it, Dodge said.
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Kim Keough, spokesperson for the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, confirmed in an email the animal was 'the same minke whale observed in the area over the winter during the Providence River barge removal operations.'
'At this point, it has moved a little bit farther, but it's four months old – severely decomposed,' Callan said Monday.
'We wouldn't get any viable samples,' Callan added.
The whales are common in the waters off Rhode Island. However, Callan said since 2017, elevated numbers of minke whale mortalities have occurred, part of what's been called an
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According to the
In the last eight years, there have been 14 dead minke whales in Rhode Island alone, Callan said. A lot of them were clearly struck by vessels, although others have shown signs of infectious disease, she said.
'Unfortunately, this [most recent] one's going to kind of be a mystery because you kind of have to piece together a lot of different things to build the case,' she said.
Experts were not able to determine the sex of the whale, as researchers typically have to check the underside of the animal as well as the internal reproductive organs to confirm, Callan said.
According to Keough, the whale carcass will remain where it is.
'Given the slow but continuous decomposition over the past several colder months, officials have determined that the most appropriate course of action is to allow the whale to decompose naturally in place,' Keough wrote. 'Removal or burial is not feasible due to the whale's advanced decomposition and its current location. A necropsy would yield limited information about the cause of death, as significant time has passed since the initial stranding.'
Dodge reminded the public that although the whale is deceased, it remains protected by the federal 'Marine Mammal Protection Act,' which prohibits people from approaching or touching the animal and from harvesting anything from it.
Christopher Gavin can be reached at