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15 February 2018

Beached whale buried in Kleinkrantz, Wilderness

The Bryde’s whale that washed out last Friday, 9 February 2018 was buried today in Kleinkranz, Wilderness. Speculation about the adult male whale’s cause of death is old age and there were no visible injuries anywhere on its body. SANParks took the decision to bury it subsequent to a recent stakeholder planning workshop on Marine Mammals held last week. Marine Ranger for Wilderness, Jonathan Britton explains the complexity of disposing a dead whale that beached so close to a residential area ‘we could not throw it into a landfill site as it is because of what was discussed at the workshop. We also could not throw it back to sea due to it causing other hazards. Burying it would allow the smell and the fat to seep through to sea when it decomposes.’

Despite the complexity of each option, it was decided to roll it out behind the water mark and bury it in the dune where there is the least amount of disturbance. Marine rangers for Wilderness, Carel van der Merwe and Jonathan Britton were on the scene to oversee the process.

Britton adds ‘if the whale had beached elsewhere far from a residential area, we would have left it to decompose as the carcass of a whale can provide important nutrients to other animals feeding from it such as micro-invertebrates and birds.’

Bryde’s whales are known to prefer tropical and subtropical warm temperate waters globally. Park Manager for the Garden Route National Park, Paddy Gordon says why sea mammals beach themselves remains a mystery. ‘It could be related to old age, human interference, diseases but when there is a beached animal in the Park, SANParks will call in its own specialists and also cooperate with external experts. In this case, an expert from Plettenberg Bay was consulted over the weekend. The decision to not throw the carcass back to sea is to ensure it does not attract shark which pose danger to bathers.’


Pic: SANParks

Youtube: ‘Carel, Jono & the whale’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX4pvyVnd3Y&feature=youtu.be

Media can contact: Nandi Mgwadlamba, 078 702 9663, [email protected]