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Wednesday, April 23, 2025
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PICS: How washed up whale was removed from Toti beach

Zainul Dawood|Published
The sub-adult humpback whale on Pipeline Beach in Amanzimtoti. Picture by Gerhard Britz
A shark can be seen swimming close to the shoreline on the top left-hand side of the picture. A whale had beached on the Pipeline Beach in Amanzimtoti. Picture Gerhard Britz
An aerial view of Pipeline Beach in Amanzimtoti where a whale had beached. Picture by Gerhard Britz
An aerial view of Pipeline Beach in Amanzimtoti where a whale had beached. Picture by Gerhard Britz
A rope was attached from an eThekwini parks and gardens department TLB to the whale that beached in Amanzimtoti. Picture Gerhard Britz
The view from above on Pipeline beach in Amanzimtoti where a whale washed up. Picture Gerhard Britz
Municipal staff and officials from eThekwini municipality cut up the whale carcass on Pipeline Beach. It was later disposed of at a landfill site in Amanzimtoti. Municipal vehicles can be seen already loaded with whale meat. Picture Gerhard Britz.

Durban - The whale that washed up on Pipeline Beach in eManzimtoti on Tuesday has been safely removed and disposed of in a landfill site. 

Authorities were on the scene to prevent people from hacking the meat of the whale before KZN Wildlife experts can conduct the necessary tests on the whale to determine what caused it to wash up on the beach.

A rope had been attached from the stranded whale to a Tractor Loader Backhoe (TLB) to prevent the whale from floating out to sea.

Andre Beetge, eThekwini ward councillor in eManzimtoti, said the whale became stranded on the beach in shallow waters on Monday night. 

The sub-adult humpback whale was between 4 and 6 meters in length.  Beetge said the whale was estimated to be 2 years old and weighed between 6 and 7 tons. 

"The whale has been anchored with the assistance of a TLB on shore. The eThekwini municipality parks department and marine experts gutted the whale so that its intestines and an estimated ton of water could be released from the body. The release of the fluids made the carcass lighter to bring ashore,"Beetge said. 

Beetge said the whale was cut up and the carcass removed. 

"The carcass was disposed of at the Vulamehlo landfill site in line with the marine animal carcass disposal guidelines," Beetge said. 

The disposal at the landfill site between Umgababa and eManzimtoti, said Beetge, will be done to prevent scavengers from hacking at the whale carcass on the beach and for drawing sharks close to the shoreline. 

The South African Association for Marine Biological Research (SAAMBR) website said dolphins and whales may strand along the beaches of KwaZulu Natal for many reasons that may be natural or as a result of human activities.  

Some of these reasons include disease, old age or parasitic infection, abandoned calves, or malnourished juveniles; severe oceanographic and weather conditions.; or they may have been bitten by predators such as sharks or orcas.

Human activities include pollution or an injury from fishing gear or boats.

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