Whale washes out to sea
DEAD WHALE STRANDED AT SHANKILL AFTER FIRST SIGHTING IN GREYSTONES
A DEAD WHALE washed up at Shankill last Friday morning after floating along the east coast, passing Greystones and Bray.
The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group said that the mammal was a juvenile fin whale. The group said that the most likely cause of death was that the whale was struck by the propellor of a ship.
However, slices indicating this along the body of the animal may have been administered after death. There was no post mortem carried out.
People came in large numbers to the shoreline at Shankill last Friday to look at the whale before the tide took it back out to sea.
A dead whale washed up on the beach at Shankill last Friday morning.
The mammal had been seen off the coast at Greystones and Bray, before finally beaching in Shankill.
Dublin Coast Guard issued a small craft warning as the animal floated in waters off Killiney and Shankill on Friday.
Crowds of people made their way to Shankill to see the unusual sight. However the local authority sealed off the area and warned people to stay clear of the dead whale.
Padraig Whooley, sightings officer with the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, said that they know the whale was already dead before it landed on the beach because it was lying belly up. It appeared to be moving around to an extent because it was partly still in sea water.
According to the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, distinctive slices on the side and upper body of the whale suggest that the propellor of a ship may have killed it.
While this is the most likely cause of death, it is also possible that the damage may have been caused post mortem.
They said that the whale may have been forced inland due to windy conditions on Friday.
The group identified the mammal as a juvenile fin whale. At 10.9 meters it is too large to be a minke whale.
An adult fin whale can reach up to 25 metres. This is a rare record of what they said is the ‘planet’s second largest animal’ on the east coast of Ireland.
This is only the third recorded stranding of this species on the east coast.
IWDG said that they have been calling for post mortems on unusal stranded sealife such as this.
However they said that this is unlikely. ‘Necropsies on large whales on beaches is extremely difficult logistically and usually do not reveal the cause of death.’
As numbers of whales in Irish waters increase, more of them are expected to be seen washing up on beaches, according to the IWDG.
The whale was later washed back out to sea.