Beached whale weighing up to 25 tonnes euthanased

Wildlife authorities have euthanased a fin whale which washed up on a beach around 60 kilometres north of Coffs Harbour in New South Wales.

Transcript

00:00 Residents of Minnewater today expected a lot of things with the advent of the Christmas

00:06 holiday season just around the corner.

00:08 What they didn't expect was a whale to become beached on one of the most popular beaches

00:13 here on the coast.

00:15 Authorities heard reports of a whale had become stuck here around 6pm yesterday.

00:21 This morning, first responders have been down at the beach trying to dig channels and make

00:26 the whale comfortable while it's here, but sadly just minutes ago we discovered that

00:33 the whale's condition had deteriorated in the hours it had been stuck on the beach and

00:37 the decision was made to euthanise it.

00:40 The whale has since been euthanised.

00:42 Vets also discovered in a quick examination a number of injuries on the whale including

00:47 shark bites.

00:48 Tigger Cross, who runs the Dolphin Conservation Park in Coffs Harbour, she said that although

00:54 these injuries are concerning, it's not necessarily the cause behind how the whale became beached.

01:00 When these types of animals wash up it normally means that they're already unwell so we were

01:04 already prepared that the outcome may not be favourable, but it's about the welfare

01:08 of the animal.

01:09 We don't want it to suffer any longer than it has and we're already connected to the

01:12 culture with the local Indigenous community to passively say goodbye which is really important.

01:18 Orca volunteers have been down here today as well responding to the whale.

01:22 They said that the communities really come together today to make sure the whale was

01:27 comfortable as well as respectful in its passing.

01:30 A number of people have also come here respectfully to mark the occasion too.

01:35 We know as well First Nations traditional owners will bury the whale on country.

01:41 It's such a shocking start to the school holidays but one that has really brought together a

01:45 number of marine rescue providers on the coast here today.

01:48 National Parks spoke to the members of the public here and advised them of what was about

01:56 to occur and made suggestions that it's very emotional so that if anybody didn't want to

02:06 be here to witness that then they should leave.

02:09 Inspections by National Parks and other marine veterinarians believe the whale to be a fin

02:15 whale, it's the second largest whale of its kind in the world.

02:19 It's extremely rare apparently for this type of whale to become beached.

02:24 We do know that it's around about a 10 month old teenager.

02:27 We don't know the sex yet due to the position of the whale that it's lying in, that it became

02:31 beached in but due to the fact that it has been euthanised now a post-mortem will take

02:37 place and we will be a little bit closer in understanding the factors that might have

02:40 caused it to become beached in the near future.

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