The disposal of a 50-tonne fin whale washed up on a beach near Ballinskelligs, Co Kerry at the weekend is proving to be a challenge, a senior vet has said after visiting the site on Monday.
Options for disposing of the 19-metre (62ft) adult male whale include towing out to sea, burial on spot, removal by land, leaving it where it is, or burning.
The carcass was spotted by a holiday maker on Saturday morning at Baile Uí Chuill Strand. The small pebble beach is across from Bolus Head and south of the main Ballinskelligs holiday beach.
Access for vehicles and machines to the spot via a narrow road are proving difficulty, Kerry county veterinary officer Paddy Fenton said on Monday afternoon.
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“This is a really awkward location,” he said.
Mr Fenton and council engineers are consulting also with the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, he said.
Gasses are building up in the giant animal and this is of real concern now.
The team are continuing to look at options. However it is likely there will be no decision until Tuesday.
Frances O’Hare from Dublin, who is staying in a holiday home alongside the beach, had reported the find to the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group at the weekend.
She recalled looking out her window on Saturday morning to see huge waves, and then she spotted one of the waves was, in fact, the whale.
She said he first thought was “oh, my God, is it still alive?” but immediately realised it was dead when she went to investigate.
A keen nature watcher, she has been to the Galápagos and the Azores whale-watching.
“I didn’t really want to see a dead whale,” she remarked.
Stephanie Levesque, strandings officer with the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, said samples of blubber, baleen, and other material would hopefully help determine the cause of death. “It will not be possible to do a full postmortem,” she said, because of the expense and also the need to bring heavy machinery, ladders and other equipment to the scene.
The whale, a male, is at this stage suspected of having died at sea around a week ago and of natural causes, she added.
It is not known if the extreme sea temperatures of June, which saw the sea in the southwest rise to 5 degrees above normal for a prolonged period, may have contributed to the death of the creature.