A young humpback whale stranded on the shore near Yachats, which captured the attention of many in Oregon and across the world, will be euthanized.

“It’s a very sad, tragic situation,” Lisa Ballance from the Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University told OPB Monday. “There’s no way to spin this positively. I know the general public is heartbroken.”

Over 5,000 people watched the tide come in live on Facebook Monday morning, hoping the waves would send the whale back out to sea.

The whale, a 3-year-old or younger male that is roughly 30 feet long and weighs thousands of pounds, had been stranded on the beach since Saturday, after officials believe he was caught up in crab‑fishing equipment and lost his ability to navigate.

Carrie Newell, founder of Whale Research EcoExcursion

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