One of Trevor Barrett’s excavators and a Robert B. Our tugboat were used to remove the dead sperm whale from Nantucket’s north shore Friday.

Marine mammal experts from the International Fund for Animal Welfare examined the whale earlier this morning before the tow.

“We were able to do a limited exam on the sperm whale this morning. We examined the wound on the back, which had a lot of associated scar tissue, so had been present for a while. We examined and sampled the organs that were accessible given the limited exam. There was no obvious cause of death determined. Samples will be sent to labs for further analysis,” IFAW’s lead veterinarian, Dr. Sarah Sharp said in a statement Friday.

A full necropsy of the animal was ruled out earlier this week because it was unable to be moved to a l

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