Wildlife officers search for rare whale stranded on Victorian beach

Severe weather and dangerous swells hamper search for 2.5m pygmy or dwarf sperm whale found at Logans Beach

Melissa Davey

Tuesday 10 May 201603.30 BSTLast modified on Tuesday 10 May 201604.25 BST

Wildlife officers are trying to find a small and rare whale that was found stranded at a Victorian beach on Monday evening, however their search efforts are being hampered by severe weather and dangerous swells.

The adult whale, about 2.5m long, was found at Logans Beach in Victoria’s south-west and rescuers believe it to be either a pygmy sperm whale or a dwarf sperm whale.

The whale was refloated but immediately stranded itself again. When rescuers returned to the beach to continue their rescue efforts on Tuesday morning, the whale could not be found.

A spokesman for the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning told Guardian Australia the search was made difficult by high winds, rough swells and high tides. If the whale is located, department wildlife officers will work with Melbourne Zoo and Melbourne Museum to decided the best course of action.

A senior wildlife emergencies project officer said the team’s strategy would be to stabilise the whale in shallow water so that a veterinary examination could occur.

“The fact that the whale re-stranded itself may be an indicator that the whale is not healthy and its stranding was not accidental,” she said.

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Genetics lab unravels mystery whale killing at sea

Date:

February 5, 2015

Source:

NOAA Fisheries West Coast Region

Summary:

Fisheries scientists happened onto a killer whale attack too late to tell what species had been the target. So they recovered all that was left -- a whale lung -- and probed its DNA to for clues to where it came from. It turned out to be the first documentation of killer whales attacking a rarely seen pygmy sperm whale.

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Rare whale successfully rescued after stranding on Welsh beach

A stranded young six-foot Pygmy Sperm Whale has been successfully been refloated off a beach at Anglesey, North Wales and last seen heading towards the Irish Sea.

Sea Watch volunteer and BDMLR marine medic Ben Murcott, was the first to arrive at the Newborough beach on Anglesey after the alarm was raised. He and other trained volunteers assessed its condition and kept it comfortable until they were satisfied it could cope with being refloated. It was then carried out to the sea on a stretcher and allowed to reacclimatise to the water before being released to swim away.

The Pygmy Sperm Whale is one of two species of theKogia Whale, the other of which is a Dwarf, and sightings of either is unusual in UK waters.

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PYGMY SPERM WHALE STRANDING NEAR SHA TAU KOK

SEPTEMBER 28, 2014 

A 3.3 m long, 386 kg whale was found by hikers on Friday (26th September 2014) on the rocky shoreline at Fung Hang village near Sha Tau Kok (NE New Territories). Due to the remote location of the site, AFCD staff decided to suspend the investigation, as night fell. Officers tied the dead whale with a rope to fix it on the beach and prevent it from drifting away during the rising tide. Experts joined the investigation the following day to identify the dead whale species and the cause of death.

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Dead sperm whale found near Hunting Island

By MATT McNAB — mmcnab@beaufortgazette.com

A dying whale was found off the shores of Hunting Island Sunday, the second whale in more than a week found on the Beaufort County coast, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration marine biologist said.

A pygmy sperm whale was spotted in a marsh area near the coast of Hunting Island stuck on an oyster bed Sunday morning, marine biologist Jessica Conway said.

The whale was alive when it got stuck, but died naturally once the tide had fallen, Conway said. Conway said she performed a necropsy at the site and took samples from the whale for testing, but no cause of death was immediately available.

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