A stranded whale was reported on Druridge Bay, Northumberland, yesterday morning. BDMLR medics and a local vet attended the stranding.
The whale, originally thought to be a minke but later identified as a sei whale, was in very poor nutritional condition, and thus the decision was made to euthanise. A post-mortem examination was carried out by the Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme (CSIP) yesterday afternoon, confirming that the juvenile sei whale was in moderate to poor nutritional condition, with no evidence of recent feeding. Signs that the whale had undergone a period of starvation were also found.
While sei whale strandings are unusual in the UK, this is the second UK sei whale stranding this year, the first being off Arbroath, Scotland, earlier this month.
For more information on this stranding see the BDMLR website, or follow the Cetacean Strandings Investigation Programme on facebook.
Is thisi something to do with the dreaded curse of the plastic bag? Having watched the recent Channel 4 documentary with Jimmy Docherty where shots of the stomach contents of a dissected whale were shown, am convinced that the great majority of the human race appears to have nothing but contempt for the sealife that surrounds us. Here in Penrith supermarkets delight in encouraging customers to use plastic bags. A gesture was make a few years ago to ban plastic bags then quickly dropped. When remarking on this a checkout assistant replied with words to the effect of “… people still ask for carrier bags”. Why should whales suffer a horrible death because of our need for “convenience”. When is something going to be done about this horror story?
I haven’t read anything about plastic being found in this whales stomach but it is a common occurrence these days, and it certainly is a horror story.
A plastic bag levy is already in place in Wales, and Marine Conservation Society are pushing for a plastic bag levy in England too. Read more about it here -http://www.mcsuk.org/what_we_do/Clean+seas+and+beaches/Campaigns+and+policy/Break+the+Bag+Habit
Whoops, cross posted! What I meant to say here was how sad this is. Almost exactly a year ago I was attending a live stranding of a sei in the Humber mud when it died as we were planning the rescue. We had seen a sei a few weeks previously feeding on herring with the minkes off Whitby. I wonder why this one seems to have starved?
It would be great to know if this is the same juvenile humpback seen off Whitby, North Yorkshire on 7th August and then a little further north off Skinningrove on the 17th! It seems very likely but we’ll never know for sure.
You never know! This is exactly why we are urging members of the public to forward us any photos that they manage to get of these animals. Any distinctive scarring or marks on their bodies can help us identify them and potentially track their movements. All information contributes to our knowledge of these whales’ distribution which helps us advice on how best to protect them.