PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Humane officials are putting up a reward, in hopes of tracking down whoever shot a whale most likely before Labor Day out in the Atlantic Ocean.

The animal slowly starved to death beaching itself late last month just north of Asbury Park.

The bullet lodged in the jaw of the 11-foot long short-finned Pilot whale leaving the animal unable to eat.

“It’s a miserable, slow way to die,” says Sharon Young, a spokeswoman for the Humane Society.

“We’re offering a $2,500 reward to try to provide more incentive for someone to come forward and provide information about the death of this whale.”

Given the shooting could have occurred anywhere along the east coast, perhaps as far north as Canada, Young concedes finding the shooter won’t be easy. It will likely take someone who was aboard the boat to expose the shooter out to federal investigators.

The shooter, if found and convicted, could face a year in jail and a fine topping out at $100,000.

Tips will be taken, anonymously if need be, through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s national hotline at 1-800-853-1964 or by contacting NOAA Special Agent Matthew Gilmore at 732-280-6490.

Reported By David Madden, KYW Newsradio