A 10ft pilot whale that was put to sleep after becoming stranded on the beach at Brook yesterday morning (Saturday) has been recovered, the Isle of Wight Council has confirmed.
As previously reported by Island Echo, a member of the public first raised the alarm at around 06:30 having come across the 10ft pilot whale whilst walking their dog.
Those present immediately requested the assistance of British Divers Marine Life Rescue and HM Coastguard. Before they arrived, locals attempted to keep the whale alive using buckets of sea water.
Coastguard Rescue Officers from Needles and Ventnor – along with an experienced member of the public – entered the water to try and carry the whale out to deeper water, but the mammal had been injured and was just rolling over and drifting back to shore.
A specialist vet was called for, but ultimately the decision was made to put the animal to sleep.
The Isle of Wight Council had made plans to come and retrieve the carcass yesterday afternoon, however, the high-tide hampered their efforts and so they were forced to abandon the operation.
It has now been confirmed that the whale was recovered earlier this morning, with the carcass to be transported to the mainland in the coming days.
Wouldn’t it be easier to simply drag the carcass back out to sea and let the other marine life deal with it like they would do after the death of any other sea creature, rather than shipping it over to the mainland (and then what?)?
Transporting it to the mainland for ‘disposal’ seems a bit unnecessary.
Yes I agree with you, that the remains of the poor whale would of been better off taken back to sea( providing it wasn’t suffering from any disease), but the chances are that it would of come ashore again somewhere during a high tide.
Regarding what will happen to the remains once it reaches the mainland is anybody’s guess!? It will probably either be slung into a landfill site or cremated somewhere.
Whatever the case, I do not expect the public will not be informed either way.
The ‘ council ‘ afterall is well known to live by their ‘ OWN ‘ set of rules, regardless of whether it is CORRECT or NOT . UNFORTUNATELY.
As already reported here and elsewhere, an autopsy will be performed at a specialist centre to determine cause of death (eg whether by impact with a vessel, ingestion of plastic or from disease) followed by cremation at a specialist crematorium (no, not specialising in whales).