The breakdown
Orca stranded on Belgian North Sea coast and dies
The stranded orca on the coast of Koksijde looks very thin
© Nicolas Maeterlinck/Belga/dpa
An orca has died on a beach in Belgium. It is still unclear why the animal approached the coast. The presence of a killer whale in the southern North Sea is exceptional.
An orca stranded and died on the North Sea coast in Belgium. The The killer whale was initially spotted swimming along the coast towards France on Sunday morning, the Belgian news agency Belga reported.
In the afternoon he was washed up on the beach in the holiday resort of De Panne and died a short time later, it was said. Attempts to use a lifeboat to encourage the whale to swim deeper into the sea again failed.
Orca looked very thin
It was not immediately known why the killer whale approached the coast. According to statements from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, the orca looked very thin, which could indicate poor health, Belga also reported. No external injuries or fractures were found. An autopsy of the animal is scheduled to be carried out on Monday.
The presence of an orca in the southern North Sea is exceptional, it said. In 1850, an orca washed up on a Belgian beach. Last October, an orca stranded on the Dutch North Sea coast and died.
Watch the video: A photographer on a whale watching boat used his drone to film an extremely rare killer whale off the coast of California: The orca suffers from a pigmentation disorder, which is probably caused by leucism or an immune defect.