{"id":336452,"date":"2025-12-09T15:46:56","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T15:46:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/aerospace\/when-a-humpback-whale-got-stranded-in-oregon-a-native-community-turned-the-tragedy-into-a-revival-of-a-traditional-practice\/"},"modified":"2025-12-09T15:46:56","modified_gmt":"2025-12-09T15:46:56","slug":"when-a-humpback-whale-got-stranded-in-oregon-a-native-community-turned-the-tragedy-into-a-revival-of-a-traditional-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=336452","title":{"rendered":"When a Humpback Whale Got Stranded in Oregon, a Native Community Turned the Tragedy Into a Revival of a Traditional Practice"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Members of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians salvaged a beached whale\u2019s remains, a practice that hadn\u2019t been performed in generations<\/h2>\n
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Sarah Kuta<\/a><\/p>\n

– Daily Correspondent<\/span><\/p>\n

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Experts spent two days trying to save the whale, which weighed roughly 20,000 pounds.
\n West Coast Marine Mammal Stranding Network<\/span>
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For the first time in generations, an Indigenous tribe in Oregon has harvested a whale, turning a tragedy into an opportunity to revive a traditional cultural practice.<\/p>\n

In mid-November, members of the\u00a0Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians<\/a>\u00a0were called in to salvage the remains of a beached whale on the central Oregon coast. The young humpback whale, estimated to be around two years old, was found stranded on November 15 on a beach north of the city of Yachats, located roughly 150 miles southwest of Portland. It was\u00a0entangled<\/a>\u00a0in Dungeness crab fishing\u00a0gear.<\/p>\n

For two days, experts tried unsuccessfully to get the massive marine mammal\u2014which weighed roughly 20,000 pounds and measured 26 feet long\u2014back into the water. Thousands of people\u00a0watched<\/a>\u00a0the nightmarish scenario unfold via an online livestream.<\/p>\n

When it became clear they could not save the whale and that the creature was suffering, veterinarians made the \u201cvery difficult decision\u201d to\u00a0euthanize<\/a>\u00a0it on November 17, said Jim Rice<\/a>, program director of Oregon State University\u2019s Oregon Marine Mammal Stranding Network, to\u00a0Oregon Public Broadcasting<\/a>\u2019s Courtney Sherwood.<\/p>\n

The Oregon State Police reached out and asked if the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians wanted to harvest the whale\u2019s remains. The Siletz\u2019s leaders secured a special permit from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and quickly gathered volunteers to help with the harvest, which Lisa Norton<\/a>, the tribe\u2019s chief administrative officer, described as both an \u201cincredible privilege\u201d and a \u201cdaunting task.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe folks that stood up and said \u2018we could do this\u2019 were very brave,\u201d she told the\u00a0Oregonian<\/em><\/a>\u2019s Jamie Hale. \u201cAnd what they did was a very important piece to the next chapter of this whale.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Siletz tribe harvests beached humpback whale at Oregon coast in rare cultural practice<\/p>\n

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