TACOMA, Wash. — A dead yearling humpback that washed ashore in Gig Harbor has been hitched to a boat and towed to Tacoma, where its skeleton will eventually be placed on display.
The News Tribune reports the 23-foot long whale was reported to authorities Dec. 18 and towed across the Tacoma Narrows Wednesday. The whale was to be placed on a flatbed tow truck and driven back to Gig Harbor to a farm.
The Cascadia Research Collective will perform a necropsy Saturday to determine the animal's cause of death.
A crew of volunteers plans to bury the whale in horse manure on the farm to aid its decomposition.
They hope to return next summer to exhume the whale and clean its skeleton, so it can be displayed at the Foss Waterway Seaport.
The Associated Press contributed to this report