Fourth whale or whale shark found Dead on West Java Beach since July

The black whale found on Sinar Laut beach in the southern coast of Cianjur district weighed six tons and measured 10 meters in length. The carcass was found dead in shallow water some 100 meters from the beach on Thursday morning when local residents found it as they were about to go fishing — they reportedly then pulled the carcass to the beach.

“The whale is predicted to have died one or two hours before the residents found it — it was still fresh, wasn’t rotten yet,” an Indonesian Military (TNI) officer stationed in the area, Second Lt. Assistant Muzakir, said on Thursday. He said local officials were still investigating the cause of the death.

Rahmat, 45, said the weather and seas off Cianjur had been “unfriendly” over the past few weeks, citing four meter-high waves common this time of year that often discourage local fishermen from going to sea.

Rahmat added that this was not the first time people in Cianjur have found a dead whale stranded on its beaches, saying they find one nearly every year.

But the whale found on Thursday is the second one found dead in West Java over the past couple of months, after residents found a live sperm whale stranded on a northern beach in the district of Karawang on July 28, which died shortly after it was returned to sea.