Two pygmy sperm whales were put out of their misery on Sunday by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) after they beached themselves on Jacksonville’s Neptune Beach. Responding to the concerned calls from near-by residents, the FWC Marine Mammal Response volunteers came to the scene near Walnut Street and found the mother whale injured and her newborn calf not even six hours old just a few meters away.

After assessing the situation and injuries at hand, the FWC made the pain-staking decision to euthanize the animals, as reported by the Daily Times Gazette. Cheyanne Rubin of the FWC said in an interview, “What may have happened was the mother was giving birth near shore and a shark was in the area.” He added, “Witnesses did report to us seeing a commotion where the shark may have been interacting with the adult female.” Mark Johnson, an eye witness to the commotion that set the scene for his bike ride that morning, elaborated by saying, “it was one of the most shocking things [I] had ever seen…She came straight up out of the water and then just…a ton of commotion…The blood and water was just massive.”

The FWC believed that mercy killing the animals would be better for them than letting them venture back out into open waters in their vulnerable states. There were most likely sharks nearby, attracted by the mother’s blood in the water, and the calf didn’t have a chance of surviving without a healthy mother. Also, pygmy sperm whales like to be isolated, so keeping them in captivity would have done more harm than good also. The bodies of both whales were studied thoroughly after the euthanasia was administered.