This article is from page 8 of the 2012-04-24 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 8 JPG
A ONGOING mystery involving the suspected finding of a rare Narwhal stranding in Liscannor Bay, was resolved yesterday with new photographic evidence revealing that it carcass removed by Clare County Council belonged to a long-finned pilot whale, and not its rare Arctic cousin.
The Kilrush based Irish Whale and Dolphin Group yesterday published new photograph of the mammal beached on Clohane strand near Liscannor last month. The photographs, which were supplied to the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group by Brian and Teresa Kelly, confirmed that the mammal found in Liscannor was not a Narwhal.
In a statement, the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group said the Clare County Council has received “unfair” criticism about their actions in removing the whale.
“The Irish Whale and Dolphin Group were always skeptical that the whale was a Narwhal, a species nev- er previously recorded in Ireland. We record over 150 strandings per annum, making it unlikely that in missing this one, that we’d miss a species new to Ireland,” said the statement.
“Over the last few weeks there has been a lot of discussion, especially locally as to what had happened to the whale, and why Clare County Council removed it without reporting it to the IWDG.
“Clare County Council have received unfair criticism of their actions and we hope they will continue to be supportive of the IWDG by re- porting stranded cetaceans to IWDG before disposal.”
The Narwhal is a medium-sized whale that lives year round in the freezing waters within the Arctic Circle.
The whale is recognisable because of a single tusk, which all male Narwhals possess. There has never been a confirmed sighting of a Narwhal in Irish waters.
So far in 2012, four pilot whale have beached on waters along the Clare coast, with 16 washing up along the Irish Atlantic coast.