Valiant bid to save beached whale fails

An attempt to save a whale beached in Ballyheigue in Co Kerry has failed.

Ballyheigue Inshore Rescue responded to a report that a six-metre whale was stranded in low water at the local beach with its tail splashing about. With the aid of members of public, they lifted the animal back out to deep water, using ropes.

Upwards of 20 people were involved in the operation and the whale initially seemed to be swimming back out to sea, but it then began swimming parallel to the shore and headed towards the locally-known Black Rock.

“It seemed to want to come back in again and died in the shallows,’’ Kevin Fay, of Ballyheigue Inshore Rescue, said yesterday.

The species that the whale belonged to has not yet been determined and Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) representatives were due in Ballyheigue yesterday to take samples from the carcass.

There’s been an increase in whale activity around the coast and, earlier this week, Derek and Joanna Scott posted a report of “remarkable’’ minke and humpback whale activity off Dursey Island on the Beara Peninsula, Co Cork. While there have been annual sightings off Dursey, this was the first humpback whale to be observed from there.

So far, there have been eight validated sightings of humpback whales during the May/June period. Half of these sightings are courtesy of Nick Masset, of the IWDG, and come from the Slea Head/Blaskets area of Co Kerry.

IWDG is asking members of the public who spot a humpback, or any whale, to report observations and images online, on www.iwdg.ie