{"id":936518,"date":"2026-10-22T05:18:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T05:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/936518\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T05:18:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T05:18:12","slug":"almost-looks-fake-two-sydney-beaches-closed-after-whale-carcass-washes-up-sydney","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/936518\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Almost looks fake\u2019: two Sydney beaches closed after whale carcass washes up | Sydney"},"content":{"rendered":"

A whale carcass has forced the closure of two busy swimming and surfing spots after washing up between Coogee and Maroubra beaches in Sydney<\/a> \u2013 but there are no plans to remove it.<\/p>\n

The whale\u2019s heavily decomposed body was found on Thursday morning at Lurline Bay, a rocky cove surrounded by cliffs in Sydney\u2019s eastern suburbs.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s believed to be a juvenile humpback.<\/p>\n

Local council said nearby Coogee and Maroubra beaches would be closed until further notice to protect oceangoers as whale carcasses have been known to attract sharks.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have cordoned off the area to leave this creature in peace and safe from the attention of people,\u201d Randwick Council mayor, Dr Clare Willington, told reporters.<\/p>\n

Maroubra beach was closed on Thursday after a whale carcass washed up at nearby Lurline Bay. Photograph: Bianca de Marchi\/AAP<\/p>\n

The council has also contacted Surf Life Saving about introducing extra drone patrols, but Willington said it was a precaution as there had not yet been reports of an increase in shark activity.<\/p>\n

Willington said there were no plans to remove the whale and that staff were working with Gamay Rangers about a culturally and environmentally sensitive approach to take.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a natural occurrence and in time nature will deal with the carcass,\u201d Willington said.<\/p>\n

The Gamay Rangers are an Indigenous ranger team who undertake natural and cultural resource management activities like protection work, conservation, and threatened species management in the La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council area.<\/p>\n

The whale is an important totem animal to the local Bidjigal people, and Gamay Rangers manager Robert Cooley said previous instances where beached animal carcasses were taken to landfill had distressed his community.<\/p>\n

However, Cooley said he was not \u201csuper confident\u201d the rising tide would return the carcass to the sea.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re got a reasonably strong north-east wind here and a bit of a swell pushing it back up \u2013 so that\u2019s going to be a challenge,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll just have to wait and see what happens but the animal is in a pretty advanced stage of decomposition, so if it did go out into the ocean, I don\u2019t think it would take long for nature to break it down.\u201d<\/p>\n

If intervention is necessary, the rangers would be discussing plans with cultural advisers, he said.<\/p>\n

The whale is believed to be a young humpback, but it is difficult to confirm due to its state of decomposition, Cooley said.<\/p>\n

The carcass was first spotted on Wednesday in Sydney\u2019s northern beaches near Manly, where attempts were made to tow it out to sea, which is why there are pieces of rope found with the whale.<\/p>\n

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The council is encouraging residents and visitors to avoid the area and follow directions from lifeguards. Composite: Randwick City Council<\/p>\n

The council is encouraging residents and visitors to avoid the area and follow directions from lifeguards and authorities.<\/p>\n

It comes as authorities are working to free a large whale found stuck in shallow waters off Turners Beach on Tasmania\u2019s north-west coast.<\/p>\n

\u201cMembers of the public are asked to avoid the area and not enter the water on the incoming tide due to the anticipated danger,\u201d Tasmanian police said.<\/p>\n

\u2018Almost looks fake\u2019<\/p>\n

Curious locals have stopped by Lurline Bay throughout the morning to try catch a glimpse of the whale.<\/p>\n

Meeri Pajala, an au pair from Finland who is living in Sydney, said she had never seen anything like this before.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt almost looks fake to me,\u201d she told Guardian Australia. \u201cThat skin looks so weird.\u201d<\/p>\n

Glenda, a local who did not want her full name published, says she usually watches whales swimming by the coast and was curious when she heard the news.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy interest is in if it\u2019s newborn, or if it\u2019s juvenile,\u201d she said. \u201cI thought it would be more complete.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was nudging up against the rocks as the waves ebbed and flowed but had become stuck in a crevice due to low tide.<\/p>\n

To the surprise of many onlookers, it doesn\u2019t seem to have a smell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A whale carcass has forced the closure of two busy swimming and surfing spots after washing up between…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":936519,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":["post-936518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=936518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/936519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=936518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=936518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=936518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}