Durban - Officials from the eThekwini Municipality are trying to remove the sub-adult humpback whale carcass that has been floating around the uMhlanga beach on Wednesday.
uMhlanga Urban Improvement Precinct (UIP) Facebook page said the eThekwini Municipality was waiting for a bigger tractor to help pull the whale into the beach. Previous attempts to remove the whale by pulling it out to sea were to no avail. The UIP said the whale washed back onto the shoreline.
The UIP said the decisions on what to do are not being made without consideration
The whale carcass is still floating just off the beach. EThekwini Municipality parks department are on the beach with ropes and the hope is that the calmer sea and low tide will make it easier to remove this morning.
Jennifer Olbers, a Marine Ecologist at Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife, said the whale was sighted off oThongathi early on Sunday morning and to prevent it from coming ashore, it was towed out to sea by National Sea Rescue Institute and the Specialised Rescue Unit (SRU) from Ballito.
Olbers said the North-easter wind which began blowing on Sunday afternoon blew the carcass back towards the beaches and it came ashore on Monday morning.