8-foot whale washes onto beach, dies in Galveston

GALVESTON, Texas – An 8-foot male pygmy sperm is scheduled to be buried after a pedestrian found him Monday morning washed onto Galveston beach. Officials said it was the first reported sighting on the island this year.

Galveston Island Beach Patrol removed the creature — bruised, shark-bitten and trapped between rocks — near the 4900 block of Seawall Boulevard. Investigators said the shark's wounds were infected. The animal was brought to an area of the beach on 47th Street, officials said.

The Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network collected sample tissue that revealed the whale died only moments before the patrol got to him, according to officials. The whale will be buried in a remote location on Galveston, officials said.

The patrol said the last stranded whale was a 45-foot sei whale found on the island's west end. That whale also died.