A MALE sperm whale was dying on a Co Waterford beach last night after it stranded in distress earlier yesterday.
The 12m whale beached at Cunniger spit, near Dungarvan, Co Waterford, after it was spotted in difficulty off the Hook peninsula on Thursday night.
Andrew Malcolm and Ann Trimble of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group, and National Parks and Wildlife Service conservation ranger Brian Duffy, co-ordinated efforts to relieve the mammal’s condition yesterday by keeping it damp with seawater as it lay on its side. The live stranding, on the eve of national whale watch day, is a rare event in the case of sperm whales, given that they are a deepwater species.
The whale was almost completely submerged by the high tide last night, and whale and dolphin group observer Deirdre Slevin said it was unlikely to survive for much longer. The group urged sightseers to exercise caution for water safety reasons, and because any undue activity can cause beached mammals further stress.
The last live sperm whale that beached on the Irish coast was on Magheraroarty, Donegal, in 2007, and a similar whale which beached in Sligo in 2006 was alive for more than a day.
Sightings co-ordinator with the whale and dolphin group, Padraig Whooley, said the whale had been reported initially on Thursday night by local member Jim Hurley. Fellow observers Paddy Roche and Deirdre Slevin found the adult sperm whale very close to the shore at Fethard harbour just north of Baginbun Head.
"The sperm whale ( Physeter macrocephalus) is the planet's largest predator," Mr Whooley said. Some 67 have been washed up on the Irish coastline, but most of them have died at sea.
The last validated stranding in the southeast was at Kilmore Quay, Co Wexford in September 1993.
