Another dead whale washed ashore on Odisha coast

BERHAMPUR: Another carcass of a whale washed ashore on Odisha coast at Rushikulya rookery near Purunabandha in Ganjam district, a forest official said on Friday.

The forest official said they find out the six-feet-long dead whale which was badly decomposed on Thursday and carried out post mortem.

Forest officials are worried over the possibility of contamination of this mass nesting beach of endangered Olive Ridley turtles by the decomposed carcasses of whales in recent days.

While it is suspected to be a beaked whale, marine mammal expert Dipani Sutaria, after studying the photographs of the carcass opined that it might be a large dolphin.

Forest officials, who took custody of the carcass, also feel it may be a dolphin.

As mass nesting of Olive Ridley turtles is expected to start in the Rushikulya rookery coast in a week or two, the forest department is concerned about the contamination of the beach due to the decomposed body of the whale.

The carcass of 33 feet long sperm whale had reached the beach near Kantiagada at Rushikulya rookery coast on February 3. The forest department had buried up the carcass after its forensic and scientific study.

It is fourth big marine mammal carcass found from Odisha coast and the second one from Rushikulya rookery coast since Feb 3.