The remains of a 43-foot whale found dead on a Texas beach will stay on the sand as officials consider what to do with the carcass.
Heidi Whitehead with the Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network in Galveston said Friday that a necropsy has been completed on the male fin whale. No suspected cause of death was immediately released.
Whitehead estimates the whale weighs about 5 tons and was already dead when it washed ashore and was discovered Tuesday. She says the nonprofit Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network does not have the equipment or funds to remove and bury the carcass.
Whitehead says the beach is maintained by Matagorda County. Messages left with county officials weren't immediately returned Friday.
Matagorda is about 90 miles southwest of Houston.
