Cape Town - Klein Brak beach in Mossel Bay remains closed for swimming after the carcass of a baby Brydes whale was found beached over the weekend.
On Monday morning, the Mossel Bay municipality said the whale carcass had been disposed of.
“There has been no conclusive proof of what caused the (beaching).
“The beach remains closed as blood leached into the estuary outflow.”
On Sunday, the municipality alerted residents to a marine species being stranded, stating that samples were taken by the Stranded Marine Animal Rescue Team.
The team’s spokesperson Val Marsh said the carcass was spotted about 800 metres offshore on Saturday.
“At that stage they got the National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) to assist and they tried to tow the carcass out of the sea. The volunteers had two or three vessels out there looking for the carcass, however, they could not locate it.
“By the next morning it had stranded very close to the river mouth. Volunteers were down there in the morning and they were taking measurements, there were no specific signs of visible injuries on the carcass of the whale but it had already started decomposing a bit, so when it decomposed it was difficult to do a lot of sampling. The volunteers took measurements, photographs and some basic samples; skin and blubber that will be sent out to a doctor,” said Marsh.
Cape Times