Sperm Whale is found dead following coastal search, Ireland

By ELAINE FURLONG

Tuesday August 23 2011

SEARCHES got underway off the South Wexford coast late last week for a sperm whale, which later beached in Dungarvan and died.

                                             Credit: Photo:DeirdreSlevinoftheIWDG

Irish Whale and Dolphin Group member Jim Hurley from Kilmore alerted the organisation on Thursday that a whale was spotted in inshore waters off Ballyteige Bay, then later inside the Keeragh Islands.

Local IWDG members Paddy Roche, Deirdre Slevin and Frank O’Brien headed out to search for the whale and spotted him 200 metres from Grange Beach, 10 feet away from the pier at Fethard Harbour and also passing by Baginbun.

According to Deirdre Slevin, he was last sighted at 10.30 p.m. on Thursday at Baginbun Beach, but darkness forced the search to be called off for the night.

It resumed again at 5.30 a.m. on Friday morning with searches of the beaches in the Baginbun and Carnivan area off Hook Head, but volunteers failed to locate the sperm whale.

In order to increase the chances of finding it, Paddy Roche and Deirdre Slevin secured a Rib and searched the Hook coastline from the sea. Their search included the Keeragh Islands and Bannow area, but there was still no re-sighting of the animal.

The sperm whale survived for up to a day after it beached at Cunniger spit near Dungarvan, Co. Waterford, on Friday. He was found dead at 4 a.m. on Saturday.

According to Deirdre, who travelled to Dungarvan to see the animal, the whale was just 35ft and malnourished.

IWDG sightings co-ordinator Pádraig Whooley explained that although sperm whale strandings are not unusual in Irish waters, ‘ live-strandings’ of this deep diver are rare.

The last live-stranded sperm whale was in Magheroarty, Co. Donegal, in April 2007 and to date there has been only one previously validated sperm whale stranding in the south-east region, in September 1993 at Kilmore Quay.

- ELAINE FURLONG

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FAIR USE: EDUCATIONAL

‘Human scavengers’ saw jaw bone off beached whale

By Eimear ni BhraonainWednesday August 24 2011MARINE volunteers were horrified yesterday to find someone had sawn off part of a dead whale’s jaw bone with a chainsaw.

The 35-ft sperm whale was washed up on the beach at Cunniger spit in Dungarvan, Co Waterford, on Friday before it finally died on Saturday.

A pungent smell was coming from the whale when members of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) went to the beach at 7.30am yesterday to salvage the jaw bones.

They wanted to preserve them for future educational purposes, however, a “human scavenger” had already hacked off 40cm of the massive jaw.

The local authority, meanwhile, spent €5,000 dealing with the whale incident. Council officials said the whale could not be tipped into the sea because of a European dumping at sea directive. They were also concerned that they could not leave the whale on the beach for a prolonged period as it is a Special Area of Conservation (SAC) under EU law.

The IWDG wanted the council to consider skinning the whale and preserving the carcass before putting it on display or donating it to a museum.

But Waterford County Council would have needed special permission to keep the whale on the beach for any period of time — and it felt the “simplest, quickest solution” should be taken.

The whale was hauled into a skip in under an hour before being transported to a rendering plant in Waterford City early yesterday.

- Eimear ni Bhraonain Irish Independent

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FAIR USE: EDUCATIONAL