Washed Up Whale Buried; Researchers Believe It Was Struck by Ship

A Friday on in Hampton Bays was examined and buried over the weekend, according to Kim Durham, the rescue program coordinator at the .

Durham said it took personnel from the Suffolk County Parks Department nearly four hours to move the nearly 40-ton whale for forensic examination and burial with equipment chains snapping due to the whale's weight. 

Once secured near the dunes, Durham said a team from the foundation examined the whale and determined that she had blunt force trauma (bruising) along her left and right lateral sides. They are injuries that are consistent with known ship strike cases, Durham said, noting that the degree of decomposition limited any additional findings. 

The whale's carcass landed just east of Tiana Beach between 4:30 and 5 p.m. on Friday and the had received calls earlier in the day reporting that the whale was floating in the ocean.