On Friday, a dead whale was discovered washed up on an embankment leading up to one of the runways at New York City's LaGuardia Airport.

According to ABCNews.com, the creature was identified as a 15-foot minke whale which washed up onto the embankment of the New York airport after floating in Flushing Bay. It remains unclear how the animal died.

Officials at LaGuardia Airport are now working with the Riverhead Foundation for Marine Research and Preservation to come up with a plan to remove the body of the whale without interrupting flight operations at the airport.

The Riverhead Foundation wants to examine the body of the whale and determine how and when the animal died. Minke whales typically weigh between five and six tons, so removing its body could become a difficult task.

The official Twitter account of ABC News shared an image of the dead whale’s body on the runway embankment at New York City's LaGuardia Airport:

15-foot whale washes ashore near end of runway at New York City's LaGuardia Airport. https://t.co/20JlGNYYJA pic.twitter.com/RnBxLUEsh5

— ABC News (@ABC) January 13, 2017

“To actually have a whale at this location is a new location,” the Riverhead Foundation’s rescue program director Kimberly Durham told WABC-TV. “It's certainly in proximity to Port Authority and operations that go there, there's a lot of things that have to be taken into consideration and we'll be working with the Port Authority to see what we can do regarding this carcass.”

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