Camper shocked by gruesome discovery on Kilmore beach
A HOLIDAYMAKER, keen to spend a weekend enjoying the scenery and wildlife of Kilmore Quay found herself face-to-face with a gruesome sight on walking the beach last Saturday week.
Suzanne Kavanagh, from County Meath, said she was horrifed to stumble upon a ‘beautiful creature, dead on the beach’, saying she was taken aback by the fact that the animal, which looks to be some type of porpoise or dolphin, was left there, but saying that her attention was also drawn to the amount of rubbish on the beach.
‘There was a lot of plastic debris, fishing tackle and rubbish on the beach. This beautiful nature reserve is evidence of how plastic, and our way of life, is having an impact on our beaches.’
Ms Kavanagh, who is a CSPE teacher in Meath, contacted the Irish Whale and Dolphin Sanctuary to inform them of the sighting and said they had already been made aware of it. She added that there were other people on the beach at the time, pointing out that the location was not too far from the carpark and thus accessible to kids and families.
Local councillor Jim Moore said he was not aware of the issue, remarking that they had had a pink porpoise wash up during the summer. He said that, every year, there was generally a few such incidents where mammals washed up on the beach.
‘There is some issue with access down to Ballyteigue Bay but normally we go down and simply bury the animal that’s washed in. I haven’t heard of this particular instance but in relation to the rubbish, we have to be mindful that some of that washes up here from the sea.’
He stressed that a daily clean-up of the village and small beach was in place, but not of Ballyteigue Bay because it was six miles long and too vast for daily clean-ups. They did, he pointed out, have a beach clean-up, coordinated by the local diving club, with scouts, which was held a bit later this year due to the fact that there was no Spring. He added that he would report the latest matter to the Harbour Master.