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Photos: Whale Washed Up On Malibu Shore Killed By 'Boat Strike'
A 40-foot fin whale that washed ashore at Point Dume in Malibu on Monday was most likely killed after being struck by a boat, according to a necropsy performed on the corpse yesterday.
Cindy Reyes, executive director of the California Wildlife Center told Malibu Patch: "The traumatic injury that we discovered is consistent with a ship strike. We have taken a number of tissue samples to send in for analysis as well so we will know more when those come back."
The whale corpse might be difficult to remove because it is lodged between rocks on the beach.
Fin whales are an endangered species, and Patch notes that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is tracking where shipping lanes and whale movements overlap.