Back in April my friend Jiji and I were running the beach loop from my house to Kvi and back. The tide was out quite a ways that day and we saw something shiny off in the distance. It looked like a giant piece of metal so we ran up to investigate. We discovered a 30 foot juvenile gray whale that had recently died. I contacted the Orca Whale network and they contacted Vashon Nature Center. After special permissions were granted, since the whale is protected, the Nature Center decided it would be great to collect the bones and put them on display for all to enjoy through the years. I signed up to be a whale ambassador and was able to do weekly checks on the whale making sure bones were tied off to the tree so other animals could feast and the bones could naturally bleach in the sun. It took from April until September for the bones to be mostly stripped and able to be moved for further cleaning. The high school students will spend the next year reassembling the whale to hang in Vashon Center for the Arts. While it was really sad to see it dead, it has been an interesting process watching the whale decompose and to see all of the wildlife flourishing because of it. Trail cams caught coyotes, fish, and birds all enjoying a meal. My swim just down the shore has also seen drastic changes in the underwater life. There are so many more sea stars and anemones now.
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