IT WILL NOT be possible to do a post mortem on a fin whale that washed up on a beach in Co Kerry.
The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) has said the whale is too decomposed for a full post-mortem.
The fin whale washed up on a beach near Ballinskelligs, Co Kerry on Sunday.
IWDG Strandings Officer Stephanie Levesque said the whale measures 19 metres in length, which indicates that it was not fully grown.
Levesque visited the scene as part of a scheme to examine rare and deep diving whale and dolphin species washed up in Ireland.
The scheme was initiated by the IWDG last year in response to an increase in recent years in cetacean stranding records reported through the IWDG stranding scheme.
Levesque collected a number of skin, blubber and baleen samples useful for biological studies. A cause of death for the whale has not yet been established.
The fin whale is the second-largest whale species on earth, second only to the blue whale, and can grow up to 26 metres long.
IWDG said Kerry County Council intends to let the whale remain on the beach as the land is private and quite secluded.
Other options to dispose of the animal had been explored, including burying it on site, towing it out to sea or disposing of it at a vet lab.
Paddy Fenton, a county vet with Kerry County Council, had told RTÉ News: “It’s very difficult to get a machine in here and even if we do get a machine in here, it would be very difficult to bury him.
“From a point of view of that the rail is full of gas at the moment, we’re very apprehensive about moving it or pushing it because there are plenty of records of whales exploding,” he said.
Kerry County Council said the dead whale poses a serious health risk and has asked the public to refrain from visiting the beach.
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