Dead Whale Washes Ashore on North Litchfield Beach as Experts Work to Learn Why

Posted Thursday, October 29, 2026 6:00 pm

David Hucks (via MyrtleBeachSC)

GEORGETOWN COUNTY: A dead whale washed up on North Litchfield Beach near Shorebird Loop on Thursday, Oct. 29, according to Georgetown County Public Information Officer Jackie Broach. The event has drawn attention as a Dead Whale Washes Ashore, prompting discussions about marine life and past few years strandings along the Grand Strand.

Broach is the county’s top spokesperson. She confirmed the whale washed up on North Litchfield Beach near Shorebird Loop where officials are on the scene, investigating the circumstances surrounding this Dead Whale Washes Ashore.

People who walk the South Strand regularly may be startled to find a whale on the sand, but it has happened before. A review of local coverage by this newsroom found at least five whale strandings reported along the Grand Strand since 2019. Most were found in or near Georgetown County. What happens over the next few days, from the necropsy to disposal to an eventual cause of death, follows a process that most residents never see. The rest of this story walks through it, especially in light of the recent Dead Whale Washes Ashore.

Understanding Why a Dead Whale Washes Ashore

What Happens to a Whale Once It’s Found

In South Carolina, a dead marine mammal can’t just be hauled off by whoever gets there first. One nonprofit, the Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network (LMMN), holds the state’s federal stranding permit. It leads the South Carolina Marine Mammal Stranding Network together with NOAA [Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network, 2026]. The group took over as first responder for every stranded dolphin and whale on the state’s coast in 2022 [Island Eye News, 2023].

When the animal is already dead, as it was today, responders record its species and sex and work to find the probable cause of death [Myrtle Beach Sun News, 2023]. That usually means a necropsy, the animal version of an autopsy. Some answers come within days. Others take much longer. After a pygmy sperm whale stranded near Myrtle Beach State Park in 2023, LMMN found gastric ulcers and bleeding in the lungs right away. The network said its microscopic tissue results could take as long as eight weeks [WPDE, 2023].

This is the accountability question locals should keep an eye on. Removing a small whale is a pickup-truck job. Removing a large one can take heavy equipment and burial on the beach. In 2021, a beaked whale found between 49th and 57th Avenue North in Myrtle Beach was taken by beach patrol to a site near the city’s animal shelter for a state necropsy. Georgetown County has no published protocol for this, so whatever the county does this week will likely set the template for next time.

Not the First, and Probably Not the Last

The recent record suggests the southern end of the Strand gets more than its share of strandings.

May 2019: An adult male pygmy sperm whale just over 11 feet long, already dead, came ashore at Huntington Beach State Park. Coastal Carolina University marine scientist Rob Young said at the time that stranded animals are almost always sick or dying [WBTW, 2019].
August 2021: A dead beaked whale was found on the beach in Myrtle Beach. State fisheries biologist David Player said a second whale had been helped back into deeper water but did not look healthy [WPDE, 2021].
2023: A pygmy sperm whale stranded alive south of Myrtle Beach State Park. Beachgoers tried to coax it back into the surf, and it died on the beach [WPDE, 2023].
March 2025: A juvenile male humpback about 29 feet long was found dead near the North Carolina line. Responders believed it had suffered some kind of trauma before it died [WPDE/ABC News 4, 2025].
June 2026: A dwarf sperm whale about eight feet long washed up on the south end of Garden City Beach. It turned out to be pregnant, and the calf also died [Myrtle Beach Sun News, 2026].

That last case happened just a few miles from today’s scene and only five months ago. It is also a reminder that these events often come in clusters along the same stretch of beach. Garden City itself is split between Horry and Georgetown counties [Post and Courier, 2016], so a stranding there can involve agencies from both sides of the line.

Why Whales Come Ashore Here

Scientists are careful to say that a stranding is a symptom, not a cause. LMMN Executive Director Lauren Rust has explained that stranded animals are usually sick, injured or already dead, and that her team’s job is to work out why [Myrtle Beach Sun News, 2023].

Geography plays a role. Small deep-diving species like dwarf and pygmy sperm whales normally live about 100 miles offshore. They rank second only to bottlenose dolphins among marine mammals that strand in South Carolina, and Rust has said they turn up most often on the state’s northern coast because of how the shoreline is shaped [Myrtle Beach Sun News, 2026]. Because these species live far offshore, researchers say strandings are almost the only time they get to study them up close [WBTW, 2019].

Larger whales have a different set of risks. Humpbacks travel along the Garden City and Myrtle Beach coast in late fall, and park staff filmed one breaching about 20 feet offshore in November 2024 [WBTW/MyFox8, 2024]. The same report noted that North Atlantic right whales had fallen below 350 animals by 2022, and that smaller boats under 65 feet long accounted for a significant share of the documented fatal strikes [WBTW/MyFox8, 2024].

The timing matters too. Every year from mid-November to mid-April, a right whale survey team based in Pawleys Island flies almost daily out of Georgetown Airport to look for the endangered whales during calving season [Georgetown County, 2026]. Today’s stranding comes just ahead of that window.

One Team for the Whole Coast

There is a staffing problem behind this story that rarely gets attention. LMMN says it responds to roughly 50 to 75 marine mammal strandings a year. It also says most coastal states have between five and 15 stranding teams, while South Carolina has only one [Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network, 2026]. A federal scientist put the statewide total at about 50 a year back in 2016, with bottlenose dolphins making up about four of every five [WMBF, 2016].

That single team is based in the Charleston area, and the Grand Strand is at the far northern end of its coverage. In the 2023 Myrtle Beach case, the network had a volunteer on site within half an hour but still had to send a veterinarian up the coast.

With a dead whale, speed matters less for the animal than for the science, because tissue samples degrade quickly in the sun and surf. With a live stranding, the distance can decide whether a vet arrives in time to help. Residents and county leaders who care about the coast should ask whether the Grand Strand has enough trained local volunteers.

What to Do If You Find One

Today’s whale was already dead. The next one may not be, and what bystanders do in the first few minutes matters.

Call first. South Carolina’s 24-hour wildlife hotline is 1-800-922-5431. Rust recommends calling it for any whale, dolphin or seal on the beach, alive or dead [Myrtle Beach Sun News, 2023]. The regional Southeast stranding line is 1-877-WHALE-HELP (1-877-942-5343).

Don’t touch it. Rust has warned that stranded marine mammals can carry diseases that spread to people. Federal law also bars unauthorized people from handling any marine mammal, dead or alive, or taking parts such as teeth or bones [SC Marine Mammal Stranding Network, n.d.].

Don’t push it back. This is the hardest one for people to accept. In the Garden City case this summer, beachgoers pushed the struggling whale back out, and it washed back in dead about an hour later. Rust said the push probably wasn’t what killed it, but she stressed that people should call and let experts assess the animal [Myrtle Beach Sun News, 2026]. A live whale can survive for hours out of the water while help is on the way [Myrtle Beach Sun News, 2023].

Whale sightings offshore can also be reported to the Coast Guard on VHF channel 16 or through the Whale Alert app [Georgetown County, 2026].

What’s Next

The immediate questions are practical ones: Myrtle Beach News has asked Georgetown County for:

the time of the first report and the agencies that responded;
the plan for removal and disposal, and who will pay for it;
whether any part of the beach will stay closed into the weekend.

We have also contacted the Lowcountry Marine Mammal Network for the species, size, sex and any early findings. Based on past cases, preliminary observations could come within days, while lab results could take up to two months.

We will update this story as answers come in. If you saw the whale before responders arrived, or have photos from the scene, send them to the newsroom.