Public Works Ministry buries sperm whale …22-ft deep on Kitty foreshore
Commander John Flores of the GDF Coast Guard briefs the media on efforts to locate the whale after it was first spotted on Sunday
Commander John Flores of the GDF Coast Guard briefs the media on efforts to locate the whale after it was first spotted on Sunday

AFTER dedicated efforts to remove the dead sperm whale from the Kitty foreshore on Tuesday proved futile, the Ministry of Public Works decided to dig a 22-feet deep grave and buried the male adolescent whale right at the foreshore.
For the entire day on Tuesday the ministry had been attempting to remove the whale from the seashore with the use of excavators but the weight of the sea giant made the task extremely difficult.The burial on Tuesday night was facilitated by personnel from the Wild Life Conservation committee and students from the Natural Sciences Faculty of the University of Guyana.Following the burial a temporary cross was placed at the location to mark the spot. However, it remains unclear what permanent measures would be employed to secure the remains in an effort to retrieve its skeleton in a year’s time for educational purposes, according to the initial plan by the local authorities.
The burial of the sperm whale, which was identified as being about six-years-old, weighing thirty tons and measuring 45 feet, comes about even as local zoologist Mario De Freitas had advised the Ministers of Public Works and Agriculture that the whale should not be buried anywhere along the coast, given the potential it has to hit the entire city with its stench for as much as two months.
On Tuesday while speaking with media operatives at the Kitty foreshore, Romaine De Freitas of the Marine Turtle Conservation Society told reporters that it was important to have the whale buried in the white sand area along the Soesdyke-Linden highway since most of the whale’s body is made up of fat and if it is buried anywhere in Georgetown it has the potential to give off a stench for as long as two months. In addition, the fat and oil from the animal has the potential to seep into the waterways and that would have other implications.
EXPERT ADVICE
Speaking with the Guyana Chronicle on Wednesday morning, Annette Arjoon-Martins, foremost wildlife conservationist, said that the decision to bury the animal in a 22-feet deep grave was given to them from experts outside of Guyana, persons who have been guiding them along the way since Saturday when it was reported that the whale was first spotted.
On Tuesday she had admitted that Guyana does not have the capabilities or personnel to deal with capturing and or freeing whales which are in distress. She noted too that the incidents over the last few days when the whale was spotted and later found dead will be used as a learning experience for those in the marine industry.
When the Guyana Chronicle revisited the location on Wednesday afternoon, there were still several persons around who were unaware that the whale had been removed. Others showed up to get a glimpse of the burial site.
In one part of the world several years ago a sperm whale which had beached itself was blown up with the use of dynamite after the countrymen were not sure of how to dispose of the creature, which was almost ten times bigger than the baby whale discovered in Guyana on Tuesday.
Whales generally move in packs but the male whales are known to venture away from the others as they become older as a sign of independence.
The sperm whale was first spotted on Sunday by a fisherman who claimed that it was caught in his net but his attempts to free it proved futile as it was too large for him to handle. Whales in distress are known to react violently and in some cases can be deadly.

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