Dead humpback whale washes ashore in Kennebunk

A dead whale found off the coast of Wells on Friday has washed up on an island just off the coast of Kennebunk.

The Center for Coastal Studies has identified the whale as an adult female humpback known as Lollipop.

NOAA said Lollipop was in good health on June 1, but by July 12, she was found dead off the coast of Massachusetts. When her carcass floated north, she became the third dead whale seen in Maine waters in three months.

Lollipop later washed up on Strawberry Island just off the coast of Kennebunk.

At the beginning of June, a 10-year-old humpback whale known as Chunk was pulled out of Portland Harbor, found entangled in netting. Preliminary necropsy findings say she likely drowned.

At the end of June, officials pulled a decomposing whale out of the water in Harpswell.

The Center for Coastal Studies said Lollipop was also entangled in 2018, but NOAA said she was not entangled when she died. At this point, experts don’t know what led to her death.