Finback whale beached in New York City

A massive emaciated, endangered, finback whale beached up on Breezy Point, Queens, on Wednesday morning. The 18 meters long whale may need to be put to sleep if it fails to respond to rescuers attempts to save it.

The finback whale was first spotted by Louis Bassolino, who first thought the creature was a capsized boat. The New York Post reported he said: "I saw the tail jump up out of the water, and the spout of water. I realized it was a whale." Bassolino added the fire department didn't believe him when he called to report the beached whale. Rescuers sprayed water over the whale to attempt to keep it alive, but Mendy Garron of the federal NOAA Fisheries service said the whale was "really emaciated, not a good body condition at all." The WSJ reported Garron confirmed euthanasia is the likely outcome as "something we could consider to be humane." If the creature is euthanised then disposal becomes a problem as it can be neither floated back to sea nor buried, due to environmental concerns.