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A baby orca found on a Northland beach this month was mutilated by a knife after it died, a veterinary pathologist says.
Vet Wendi Roe said she usually came across a couple of dead baby marine mammals each year but never one as chopped up as this orca (killer whale).
The male mammal, found on the Far North's west coast on July 5, had had its head, tail, dorsal and right pectoral fin chopped off and its right side had been cut open.
Ms Roe's report said the mutilation was performed after death and was done "skilfully by a person well-versed in using a knife".
A lung examination showed it had probably drowned but it was difficult to tell whether it was because of a storm or fishing net or something else.
"The presence of net marks on the head and leading edges of flukes and flippers is common supporting evidence of entanglement as a cause of death, but almost all of these body parts had been cut off," the report said.
It said there was a possibility the orca was separated from its mother during a storm and died.
Department of Conservation marine species manager Simon Banks said it was not an offence to accidentally kill an orca, but both failure to report a death and mutilation after death were offences under the Marine Mammals Protection Act.
Mr Banks said it was common practice in fisheries to cut fins from sharks caught in nets, so the carcases sank.
But marine mammals such as orca didn't sink and could be washed up onshore.
- NZPA
