Department of Conservation ranger Graeme Loh measures up a
dead beaked whale on Ocean View Beach on Saturday with the
help of Kane Whitehead (8). Photo by Craig Baxter.
A dead whale lying on Ocean View Beach near Brighton, has
been illegally butchered, raising concerns that someone might
risk illness by eating the meat which was possibly diseased.
Under the Marine Mammal Protection Act it is illegal to take
any part of a marine mammal without proper authorisation.
The 5.9m mature female, believed to be a type of beaked
whale, washed up on the high tide mark overnight on Friday.
It was still warm when found on Saturday morning.
Samples and measurements were taken by the Department of
Conservation on Saturday before signs were posted, warning of
the possibility the whale was diseased.
However, someone came along during the night and took a "huge
back strap" and the tail fin.
Doc biodiversity assets programme manager David Agnew said it
was "crazy" that anyone had taken meat from a dead mammal
when they did not know how it had died.
Mr Agnew said police had been notified and were looking into
the incident.
The law allows for six months jail or a fine of up to
$250,000 for people caught harming marine mammals.
An autopsy yesterday morning failed to give any indication of
what killed the whale.
Doc was liaising with Te Papa in Wellington, which had the
largest collection of beaked whale skeletons, to identify the
whale and to see what samples were needed for research.
The head and stomach contents were removed by Doc staff
before the whale was buried near the beach. They would be
frozen before being sent on to research facilities, he said.
As deep-sea whales rarely washed up, information gathered
from the whale was important to scientists who knew very
little about them, he said. Given it had recently died, it
was possible a lot of its stomach contents could be
identified.
Otago Conservation Board chairman Hoani Langsbury said he was
very concerned that someone would do such a thing to a
defenseless marine mammal.
If the culprits were found, he would recommend enforcement
action was taken.
From Ngai Tahu and the local runanga's perspective, the
mammal was important for traditional purposes, he said. A
representative was present for the autopsy.
• Beaked whales
- 11 species known to inhabit NZ waters
- Live in open ocean
- Dive to 300m for squid
- Have a small head, a beak and bulging forehead.
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