Dead whale found washed up on Auckland’s Red Beach

The whale washed up on Auckland's Red Beach this morning - its upper body was split open.

Warning: Graphic images.

A dead whale has washed up on the beach in the north Auckland suburb of Red Beach.

Resident Judith Marsden said one of her neighbours, who had been walking his dog, knocked on her door this morning and told her what happened.

She said an estimated 30-40 people from the surrounding houses and suburbs have come down to see it.

A whale washed up on Auckland's Red Beach this morning. A ceremony took place on the beach before it was cordoned off by Department of Conservation officials, and between 30-40 residents from Red Beach and the surrounding suburbs have come to pay their respects.

“There are a lot of children who have ... never seen anything like it.

“It smells how you would imagine a rotting carcass would smell.”

A blessing on the beach has already taken place, and it has since been cordoned off by conservation officers while they decide what to do with the biohazard.

Department of Conservation Tāmaki Makaurau operations manager Rebecca Rush told the Herald staff are on-site and working with Ngāti Manuhiri to figure out the next steps that need to be taken.

“The whale is potentially a pygmy blue whale, but this is not confirmed. It appears to have been deceased for a number of days prior to washing up.”

A whale washed up on Auckland's Red Beach this morning. A ceremony took place on the beach before it was cordoned off by Department of Conservation officials, and between 30-40 residents from Red Beach and the surrounding suburbs have come to pay their respects.

Marsden said officials had received reports of sightings of a whale in distress or pain in and around Tiritiri Matangi Island in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf about a week ago.

Marsden said normally, a beached whale can be floated out to sea when the tide comes in, but this one is broken up, so DoC officials aren’t quite sure what to do.

“It’s going to be quite difficult to remove because it has dug down into the sand.

“It’s already quite smelly, so if they have to break it up, it’s going to be even worse. But the poor creature has to be dealt with somehow.

“It’s been a magnificent creature in its time, but sadly, its time is up.”

Red Beach resident Shannon Rogers, who runs a coffee cart on the waterfront, said the beached whale is definitely the discussion of the day in the beachfront suburb.

She told the Herald the whale must have been there since last night, on account of how much of the sand is covering parts of its tail.

“The whole upper body is ripped in half and there is blood leaking from the carcass, so it’s definitely stinky on the beach.”

*The headline on this article has been updated as it earlier incorrectly stated the whale’s head had been split open.