Weighing approximately 30 tons, it took two days to flense the 44-foot long whale. The skeleton was then transported to Ithaca via a flat bed truck. Back at PRI, an army of staff and volunteers worked together to unload the skeleton and bury the bones in a bed of horse manure. The manure provides an ideal environment for the remaining flesh and oil to be removed from the bones over the course of several months. The manure cleans the bones.
Whales often become entangled in fishing gear.
Multiple strands of fishing rope were wrapped three times around its body, causing a wound to cut 7 inches into the blubber. From the Center for Coastal Studies, Massachusetts. Rescuers succeeded in cutting two of the three encircling ropes in early September, but the third remained. By attaching buoys with VHF and satellite transmitters to the entangling rope, researchers continued to track the movements of the whale. Fewer than 300 Northern right whales remain in existence today.