It is an “exceptional” phenomenon according to a specialist. A humpback whale of almost ten meters was stranded this Thursday morning on a beach in Pas-de-Calais, between Calais and Marck, AFP noted. “This 9.53 meter whale was stranded on the beach of Fort Vert, it is a female, it is an exceptional phenomenon for the region”, explains Jacky Karpouzopoulos, president of the Northern Mammal Coordination of France (CMNF) and “responsible for strandings” in Nord-Pas-de-Calais,
confirming information from France 3 Hauts-de-France.
“Dangerous for navigation”
This whale, which weighs “between 20 and 25 tonnes”, must be taken out of the “swing zone” of the tides, this Thursday afternoon “so that it does not go back to the sea”. It is a dead body and “it can be dangerous for navigation”, added Jacky Karpouzopoulos. With the help of “heavy machinery”, we will “pull it up the beach as high as possible” and on Friday “we will do its autopsy, we will open the animal on the beach, cut it up and the whale will go to the sea. ‘rendering’.
In November, a fin whale of 19 meters and about fifteen tons, was stranded in the port of Calais, after being injured.