Public warned to stay away from washed-up whale

Cape Town - The Overstrand Municipality has warned residents not to consume the meat of a Bryde’s whale that washed up on a Hermanus beach on Wednesday.

This follows pictures and videos circulating on social media of some residents cutting up the mammal soon after it washed ashore.

Overstrand municipal manager, Dean O’Neill, warned residents not to eat the meat as it was still unknown why the whale had died.

“On Wednesday at around 12.45pm, the Overstrand Municipality’s Environmental Management Department was alerted, through the Overberg Stranding Network, to a whale carcass that was in the process of washing up at Schulphoek Hermanus.

“The last report at 4.10pm showed about 30% of the tissue of the whale (was) left.

“The Environmental Management Services and Law Enforcement attended the scene, but there was very little to be done to stop the people. As such, people were warned about the potential hazards of consuming the meat and the physical dangers of working with such a large animal that is constantly moving in the surf and on slippery rocks.

“Currently there is very little of the carcass left and we will do another inspection later today, but we expect that only the bones and some of the unusable organs will be left,” O’Neill said.

Both the provincial hospital and the Hermanus Day Clinic in Zwelihle were informed about the situation and they will be monitoring any increase in potential associated cases, he added.

“This is pure speculation, however, this could be for personal consumption, to sell or even for traditional medicine. The blubber can also be used for making candles and soap,” O’Neill said.

Director of Sea Search, and honorary research associate at Stellenbosch University, Dr Simon Elwen, said stranded whales often died of natural causes which can include various bacterial, viral and worm infections, many of which can easily be passed to humans or pets.

“In addition, due to their role high in the food chain, some whales and dolphins have very high levels of (man-made) toxins in their bodies which are not healthy to eat,” he said.

AfriOceans founder, Lesley Rochat, said besides the fact that possession of whale meat is illegal in South Africa, the whale in question is decomposing and people consuming the flesh are at risk of food poisoning.

“Because whales are high up on the food chain they are vulnerable to contaminants such as pesticides and PCBS (polychlorinated biphenyl) and heavy metals such as methylmercury.

“Our whales no longer live in a clean and pristine ocean environment – unfortunately negative human impact has caused such high levels of toxins in the ocean and these concentrate in the tissue of the whales,” she said.

Cape Times

• Residents warned not to eat meat of whale carcass washed up in Hermanus