A sombre scene unfolded on the shore of Struisbaai on Friday evening when a rare sperm whale stranded itself on the surf zone in front of Langezandt Fishermans Village, reports Cape town Etc .
According to a Facebook post by Marine Conservation Photographer Jean Tresfon, footage shared by the National Sea Rescue Institute NSRI showed the adult whale visibly distressed, thrashing its tail in the shallows as it struggled to free itself.
We are in contact with the DFFE Whale Disentanglement unit and at this stage, there is nothing we or anyone else can do to assist, said NSRI Station 30 Agulhas just before 6pm on Friday, 23 May, adding that the team would reassess in the morning if the whale was still unable to get itself to deeper water.
By Saturday morning, however, the adult sperm whale had sadly succumbed, its lifeless body found on the beach.
Having reached out to Southern Tip Extreme Dive Centres Stephen Griffiths for further details, he confirmed to Cape town Etc that the NSRI will try to remove the sperm whale at high tide 2:50pm today.