Six huge sperm whales which died after becoming stranded on a North Sea beach will spend a second night on a sandbank before the grim task of burying them begins, health officials confirmed today. The huge mammals - weighing around 20 tons each - were discovered on Cruden Bay beach, 25 miles north of Aberdeen, early on Sunday.
Environmental health experts had expected to begin disposing of the corpses today, but the operation has been delayed because of difficulties in moving heavy excavation equipment over the soft sand. An Aberdeen Coastguard spokesman confirmed that staff would guard the site for a second night before burial work begins early tomorrow (TUES). He said:
"There is now a greater risk of disease from the whales, so the public are being kept well back from the scene."
The whales are lying together on a two-mile stretch of sand on a popular beach beneath the ruined Slains Castle, said to have inspired Bram Stoker to write Dracula. Police and coastguards have maintained a security vigil on the scene to prevent the public getting too close to the bodies, amid fears for public safety and of people trying to steal parts of the whales as souvenirs.
Hordes of visitors again visited the beach during the day to see the whales as they lay in shallow water. Ian Robertson, environmental health director at Banff and Buchan District Council, said there would be no health risk to the public if the 35ft-long whales were buried in huge graves on the beach. He added: "These burial sites would be very deep and above the high water mark. They will not affect anyone visiting the beach, although we may have to put fences around the graves.
"We had hoped to begin burial work today, but there have been delays in working out how we will get the correct equipment onto the beach. That has now been resolved and we hope to begin tomorrow when tide conditions are right."
Scottish groundings co-ordinator Bob Reid visited the scene this afternoon and removed the whales' lower jaws for research. He wants to discover if any had been sick and why they beached. Sperm whales are uncommon in North Sea waters and the reason why they grounded remains a mystery. According to one expert who visited the scene, it is thought five of the whales may have been escorting a sick member of the school and all six became stranded in shallow water.