Durness whale incident – update

The Highland Council have arranged the disposal of 16 whale carcasses following the mass stranding of pilot whales on Friday. The Environmental Health service arranged the prompt burial of the carcasses at a remote location at the south end of the Kyle of Durness to ensure there were no nuisance or public health issues. The site was identified in consultation with SEPA and the local landowner. The burials commenced on Monday after government vets carried out post mortems on many of the whales to establish their condition and to identify any possible causes for the strandings.

Environmental health officer Andy Hurst said: “We have worked with a local contractor and others in the area to collect the whales to the identified burial site. After the vets had finished their investigations we buried the carcasses and tidied the site. I must thank the local contractors for their help at such short notice and to the landowner for his co-operation. It’s possible that other carcasses have been washed out to sea and may end up on other beaches in the area over the next week. If the public do spot any whale carcasses please get in touch with me at our Golspie office.”

More than 60 whales got into difficulties on Friday after swimming into the kyle and getting caught in the low tide.

Following a large rescue mission by the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, other agencies and volunteers about 45 were able to be guided out into the sea but an estimated 36 were stranded on sandbanks and it is believed that as many as 20 perished. 

Alan Yates, Acting Head of Environmental Health, The Highland Council,  said: ‘We are grateful for the assistance of local people in Durness throughout this incident. Great work was done on saving the majority of the pod. Arranging disposal of any dead whale can be problematic so I am very pleased that we have managed to arrange the quick disposal of unfortunately such a large number of pilot whales.”