There was no sign Tuesday afternoon of an adult minke whale stranded in Harbour Grace since Monday morning

"We went down this morning sort of expecting it to be in the same place we left it yesterday evening, in a small tide pool there, where it had a little bit of water," said Wayne Ledwell of the Whale Release and Strandings group.

Ledwell said locals suggested it had either left the harbour or was now dead. Either way, there'd been no sign of it all afternoon.

"We think that it went out. Anything could have happened to it, but when last we'd seen it, it was slowly working its way out the harbour."

The whale had been stuck next to the S.S. Kyle, a vessel grounded in the harbour on the northern side of Newfoundland's Conception Bay, on Monday. It freed itself hours later, but kept swimming back into the water.

Wayne Ledwell of the Whale Release and Strandings group says the whale is in bad shape and he doesn't think it will survive. (Mark Cumby/CBC)

Crews had been on scene through Monday morning, using oars to orient the animal toward open water. However, the whale kept swimming back inshore.

"It didn't look to be a very healthy whale, even when it was moving out to harbour, it wasn't swimming like a healthy whale would," said Ledwell.

"It would come up covered in kelp and go on again, kelp around its snout and dorsal fin, which healthy whales don't really do that. Anyway, it's meandered out that far, and hopefully it can pick up some steam and figure something else out. That's about the best we can do."

The small whale presented a traffic concern, as drivers were slowing down along Route 70 to look at it. (Mark Cumby/CBC)

Town problem

The stuck whale had been a safety concern for the local fire department, since traffic had been slowing down along Route 70 to look at it.

Harbour Grace Mayor Don Coombs says he thinks the whale has found 'a final resting place' on his town's doorstep. It will be a municipal responsibility to get rid of the whale. (Mark Cumby/CBC)

That wasn't the only concern, according to Mayor Don Coombs, who didn't want a rotting whale carcass on the doorstep of tourist attractions and local bed and breakfasts.

"We don't want it here on the beach all summer," said Coombs, who had planned to talk with the federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans and other authorities about towing the mammal out of the bay, if it died near shore.

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