THE IRISH Whale and Dolphin Group says “valuable scientific and educational opportunities” will be lost if the sperm whale which died on a Co Waterford beach at the weekend is incinerated.
The group’s sightings co-ordinator Pádraig Whooley has appealed to Waterford County Council to defer moving the carcass until other options have been considered.
The 10.7m-sperm whale survived for up to a day after it beached at Cunniger spit near Dungarvan, Co Waterford, on Friday.
However, by late that night or early Saturday morning it had died, according to National Parks and Wildlife Service ranger Brian Duffy.
Mr Duffy had worked with whale and dolphin representatives to minimise the distress experienced by the mammal as it lay on its side on the strand, sometimes moving its jaw and whipping its tail.
It was too large to refloat or to euthanase, and had obviously been ill before it approached inshore waters, Mr Duffy said.
The last live sperm whale stranding in Irish waters was in Donegal in 2007. Their deep sea habitat is such that they tend to die offshore.
Waterford County Council sent officials to co-ordinate traffic in the area, and the Irish Coast Guard placed booms around the mammal to allow the whale and dolphin group to take samples.
Mr Whooley noted that the local community could follow the example of Kilbrittain in west Cork, where the skeleton of a 20m-fin whale was retained after days of working to remove its flesh in 2009.
“It is in our opinion a wasted opportunity when these magnificent specimens are simply hauled off for incineration,” he said.
However, Mr Duffy noted that the whale could be buried and the location marked, with the skeleton then ready for retrieval in several years.