The carcass of a 13-meter-long sperm whale was found on the beach of Borgo di Gelso, on the island of Vulcano. The causes of death are still to be clarified, but the cetacean could have been killed by plastic as happened recently to another specimen found beached in Sardinia.
He is about to end up run over, his mother saves him
A sad discovery took place yesterday in the Aeolian Islands, where the sea currents brought the carcass of a ship ashore sperm whale of about 13 meters. The cetacean was found in a state of decomposition on the beach of Borgo di Gelso, ofVulcano island.
This was reported by the non-profit association "Filicudi Wildlife Conservation - First aid for sea turtles Aeolian islands", engaged in the protection and monitoring of the marine fauna of the area.
News sperm whale beached Aeolian The carcass is in an advanced state of decomposition and the ...
Posted by Filicudi Wildlife Conservation - Sea Turtle First Aid on Friday, February 5, 2021
The causes that led to the death of the poor animal are still to be clarified. As announced on Facebook by the association “Filicudi Wildlife Conservation, a complete analysis of the carcass will be carried out in the next few hours.
"We are in close contact with the Coast Guard of Lipari and the CERT, the National task force born from the collaboration between the Ministry of the Environment and the University of Padua to manage emergencies related to stranding, for the exchange of all information . " - announced the association through a post on Facebook. - “We hope, despite the poor condition of the carcass, to at least be able to identify the sex and estimate the age of the specimen and to take some samples. We will keep you posted. Finally, we remind you that it is STRICTLY FORBIDDEN to touch the specimen, as the sperm whale is a protected species, included in many international conventions and European directives for the protection of marine fauna and according to the CITES convention, trade, manipulation and taking even small parts of a beached animal. The death of this animal is really sad but we will do everything to ensure it is not in vain and can provide important results for the protection of cetaceans."
Recently another specimen of pregnant sperm whale was found dead in Sardinia, on a beach near Porto Cervo. And after dissecting her stomach, over twenty kilos of plastic waste were found in her belly. But the cases of cetacean deaths linked to plastic waste are really many. It is not excluded, therefore, that even the cetacean found in Vulcano may have died due to marine pollution. This could be just the umpteenth death caused by man's indifference.
Source: Ansa / Facebook
Read also:
- A plastic cup kills a sperm whale in Galicia
- Yet another stranded sperm whale in Gran Canaria. She was pregnant
- A young sperm whale dies with 100 kilos of plastic in its stomach: it is the symbol of the pollution of our seas
