Amidst the stench and the crowd, it took 50 men, two JCBs and two cranes to bury the 37-feet long whale that washed up on the Juhu beach on Thursday night.
Around 8 pm on Friday, officials from the forest department and their helpers buried the full-grown male mammal identified as a Bryde’s whale, at the beach. However, tissue samples were collected from the carcass to conduct a necropsy and find the possible cause of death.
Makarand B. Ghodke, assistant conservator of forests who was at the spot while the whale was being buried said that according to preliminary investigations, the mammal had died a natural death. “There were no injury marks on the body and the whale had died about three to four days before being washed ashore at the beach,” said Mr Ghodke. He further added, “Since the whale had died around three to four days ago, the body had partially decomposed and so we had to bury it.”
Digging the whale’s grave began around 4 pm on Friday and with the help of two JCBs and the work was completed around 8 pm. The body, weighing approximately 40 tonnes, was then lifted by two cranes and placed into the grave. Other officials and also some policemen were present to manage the large number of people that had gathered at Juhu beach to take a look at the mammoth marine animal.
Officials from the forest department said that doctors from the Bombay Veterinary College had collected samples from the body to conduct tests to verify the species and also to shed more light on how the whale had died.
In a similar incident, on 24 June 2015, a 40-feet long Blue whale had washed ashore alive at the beach at Alibaug. Though authorities pushed the mammal back into the sea, the whale died at the beach the next day. Though a necropsy was not conducted, forest officials claimed the whale had gotten stranded in the shallow waters near the beach, which led to its death.
