A dead whale has washed ashore on Weeroona Island in South Australia’s Mid North.
Key points:
- The whale was spotted by two fishers yesterday
- National Parks and Wildlife Services have been notified
- Resident says the carcass is beginning to smell
The carcass appears to have no visible wounds but was bleeding from the eyes.
Nic and Courtney Ganley spotted the whale while fishing in First Creek on Sunday afternoon in the Spencer Gulf.
Mr Ganley said he thought it was the hull of a boat when they first saw the whale.
“I was hesitant to get closer to it because I know sharks like to hang around dead whales,” Mr Ganley said.
“We found a number that we were supposed to ring [for FishWatch] and they were confused to why we were ringing them.”
The Ganleys went to their shack on Weeroona Island and kept a close eye on the whale with a pair of binoculars.
On Monday morning, they noticed it was washed ashore.
“We went down and had a look and we could see that it was still intact and whole and hadn’t been eaten by anything,” Mr Ganley said.
“I’ve heard of locals out on the island spotting whales swimming but I’ve never seen anything like this.”
People have been flocking to the spot to look at the whale and residents have said it is beginning to smell.
Carcass may be sent to museum
South Australian Museum collection manager of mammals David Stemmer believes the whale is a Rorqual whale because of the baleen in its mouth.
“The baleen is coloured light at the back and dark at the front which gives us the clue that it’s a Rorqual whale,” Mr Stemmer said.
“It is somewhat unusual to find this animal that far off the gulf but they do occasionally come in.”
The museum does not have the funding to send a team down to extract the whale, but Mr Stemmer said if an agreement could be reached with the Mount Remarkable council, the museum could help determine the cause of death.
Mount Remarkable council chief executive Sam Johnson said it will cost a couple of thousand dollars to remove the whale.
He said a crane would be booked this week to extract the carcass from the beach and it would be buried near Willowie in the Flinders Ranges or it would be sent to the South Australian Museum for research.
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