***Warning, graphic image below***
A whale found dead on a Kerry beach had a rusted fishing hook in its genitals and a toothbrush in its stomach.
Irish Whale and Dolphin Group carried out an autopsy on the adult female on Wednesday after a member of the public reported its stranding in Brandon Bay.
They found the True’s beaked whale was suffering from multiple abscesses in its muscle and mammary gland near a partially rusted fishing hook embedded in the left side of its urogenital slit which would have caused “significant pain”.
Further examination also found a nine inch toothbrush in one of its stomachs, haemorrhaging in its left eye and head and that both its lungs and liver were congested.
Science officer Becky Dudley told us the whale washed up on November 28 and was reported through their stranding scheme.
“It was a fully mature animal and had been pregnant before,” she added.
“It’s eye was filled with blood and [there was] blood around the eye in the blubber which could be a sign of trauma but that needs additional testing and analysis to indicate what that could possibly be.
“From that initial post mortem you only have that snapshot of what could have happened to the animal.
“The samples we collect are taken to further organisations and labs for further testing to see if you can find out what the cause of death was.”
At this stage, Becky said abscesses possibly caused by the hook may have killed the whale.
“The abscesses round the mammary area are something that we would be concerned about as that would be very painful,” she added.
“The hook was embedded in the left side of the urogenital slit - that hook could have caused an infection and the abscesses that were in the underlying muscle and mammary gland.”
At this stage, the research team don’t know what type of fishing hook it was but Becky says they are hopeful further testing will help them discover the source.
The autopsy was carried out as part of the group’s Deep Diving and Rare species Investigation Programme which is partially funded through NPWS.
It allows them to investigate the strandings of deep diving species to see what’s impacting the animals and ecosystems.
“It’s a way of finding out how they died and gives us a good indication of the health of our ecosystems as well as an insight into these rare species that we don’t get to document very often,” Becky added.
“Through postmortems you not only find out how things died and the health of individual animals but you can also see things like what food they eat, so it gives you an idea of the ecology of the animal as well.”
True’s beaked whales or Mesoplodon mirus, can grow up to 5.4 metres in length.
They are found in the Northern Atlantic and also the southern hemisphere, leading to suspicions there are two distinct subspecies.
Little is known about their behaviour as they have only been identified at sea a handful of times according to Whale and Dolphin Conservation but they are thought to eat squid and smaller fish species.
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