Island Free Press: Dead whale washes ashore in between Avon and Buxton

Photo by Cape Hatteras National Seashore

On Monday, December 5, Cape Hatteras National Seashore staff responded to an approximately 30-foot-long dead humpback whale in the surf about two miles south of ORV Ramp 38, in between the villages of Avon and Buxton.

The Marine Mammal Stranding Network and NOAA were both notified of the incident, and a necropsy (or autopsy) will be performed to see if a cause of death can be determined. As of December 6, the whale remained on the shoreline.

In the past 10 years, there have been 14 documented humpback whale strandings at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, including four strandings in 2017. The most recent stranding occurred in March of 2021 on Pea Island, just north of Rodanthe.