A 20-foot whale appeared on a beach near Cape May

A live 20-foot minke whale was stranded on a beach near Cape May on Tuesday, drawing a response from police and firefighters as well as curious onlookers for a short time before it died.

The whale was found at Sunset Beach near the wreck of the SS Atlantus in the early afternoon and was still alive shortly before 3:30 p.m., said Jeff Stewart of the Cape May Whale Watcher company. He went to the scene after seeing photos of the whale posted by a friend on Facebook, he said.

At that point, Stewart said the Marine Mammal Stranding Center would make the final determination on whether the whale could survive, though he was pessimistic because of the amount of time the whale had already been on dry land.

“It’s very sad,” Stewart said, explaining that the whale’s internal organs were being crushed by its weight outside of the water. It likely became beached because it was sick, he said.

Shortly before 4:40 p.m., Stewart reported that the whale had been euthanized by the Marine Mammal Stranding Center.

Minke whales are one of the smallest species of baleen whales, which use a filter-feeding system in their mouths to eat krill, plankton, and small fish.

Stewart believed the whale on Sunset Beach was a young adult.