Hong Kong marine conservation experts saw new wounds on the back of a whale carcass after it was lifted out of the water on Monday evening, as they sought to conduct a necropsy as soon as possible to identify the cause of death.
Veterinarians and experts from Ocean Park and the Ocean Park Conservation Foundation on Monday night performed an initial check on the whale carcass found near Sai Kung earlier that day, after the marine mammal was transported to the west dam of High Island Reservoir.
According to the team, the whale carcass was slightly bloated when it arrived at the shore and displayed new wounds on its back, in addition to two injuries it had sustained earlier. A necropsy would be conducted on-site as soon as possible to avoid corpse decomposition amid the hot weather, the experts said, and organ and blood samples of the whale would be collected and tested for the team to understand its health condition before death.
“Apart from two old wounds on the back, there was a very obvious new wound on the dorsal fin of the whale. The old wounds were on the farther part of the whale’s back, while the new wound was at the centre of the back,” the foundation’s Scientific Officer Compass Chan said in Cantonese during a media briefing on Monday evening.
The Ocean Park team and representatives from the foundation did not reveal the cause of the wounds or death, saying further analysis would be required following the completion of the necropsy.
The necropsy is expected to take a few days and the results would be submitted to the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD). Preliminary findings would be announced in due course, the team said, adding they would make “suitable arrangements” for the rest of the whale’s body for education or scientific uses.
Speaking on Commercial Radio on Tuesday, Philip Wong, General Curator, Zoological Operations & Conservation of Ocean Park, said in Cantonese that experts began necropsy work on Monday night and preliminary inspection showed that the whale was a male and was more than eight metres long.
The new wound found on the whale had potentially been caused by hard objects, Wong said, adding the experts could not yet confirm whether the two old wounds were sustained before or after the marine mammal entered Hong Kong waters.
Asked if the new cut wound could have been caused by rocks or vessels, Wong said it was more likely that the injury was caused by the latter.
Hong Kong Dolphin Conservation Society Chairman Chang Kai-tai said in Cantonese on the same radio programme that the injuries on the marine mammal may result from sudden collision with hard objects. Unless there were photographs which clearly showed the wound on the whale, it would be difficult to determine the cause, he said.
“It took almost an entire day for the whale to be towed to west dam for necropsy, the shape of the wound may have changed during the course of transporting the whale,” Chang said.
But both Wong and Chang said the cause of death could only be confirmed after the completion of the necropsy.
The whale carcass was spotted on Monday morning to the south of Shelter Island, around three weeks after a Bryde’s whale was first seen in the waters near Sai Kung in mid-July. The rare sighting attracted many people who hoped to see the animal for themselves, with boats offering rides to approach it. Conservation groups had urged the public to keep their distance and not surround the animal with boats, as that may affect its ability to return to open waters.
Local media reported last week that injuries visible on the whale’s back were potentially caused by a propeller.
In a statement released on Monday night, the AFCD said it was saddened by the whale carcass and said the authorities would take reference from the necropsy results for how the government should handle whale sightings in the city in the future.
The department said it had monitored the health condition of the whale and sent six patrol vessels over the past few days to “give advice to sight seeing vessels.” The vessels, particularly high speed ones, were told to leave the waters where the whale was spotted, the department said, adding whale watching and water sports in the concerned waters dropped drastically over the weekend.
“After dissection, the AFCD will make arrangements for the carcass including exploring the possibility of making it a specimen for scientific research and education purposes as appropriate,” it said.
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