{"id":936574,"date":"2026-10-22T06:16:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T06:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/936574\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T06:16:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T06:16:19","slug":"sperm-whale-dies-after-stranding-near-devonport-on-tasmanias-north-west-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/936574\/","title":{"rendered":"Sperm whale dies after stranding near Devonport on Tasmania’s north-west coast"},"content":{"rendered":"

A large sperm whale that washed ashore on Tasmania’s north-west coast has died.<\/p>\n

Last night, Tasmania Police said they were managing the whale at Turners Beach, along with members of Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service.<\/p>\n

Members of the public are asked to avoid the area and not enter the water or the incoming tide due to the “anticipated danger”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Local residents watched on as the rescue attempt unfolded. (ABC News: Mackenzie Heard)<\/p>\n

Authorities attempted to rescue the whale, but the Department of Natural Resources and Environment said it had since died.<\/p>\n

“While this is a sad outcome, strandings occur for a range of reasons and wildlife deaths are a natural part of life in the marine environment,” a spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

“A specialist wildlife veterinarian will take samples and examine the whale to try to determine the cause of death.<\/p>\n

“Wildlife can carry disease and interfering with wildlife, including a carcass, is an offence, so people are asked to stay away from the area.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The public is asked to avoid the area and not enter the water near the whale. (ABC News: Mackenzie Heard)<\/p>\n

Earlier today, Turners Beach resident Haydn said it was a distressing scene.<\/p>\n

“Unfortunately the whale is still stranded \u2026 there is unfortunately a lot of blood in the water,” he said.<\/p>\n

“There were about 100 residents here this morning looking on.<\/p>\n

“Right now we’ve got two rangers here just basically babysitting the whale, making sure no-one goes in the water because of the risk of sharks.”\"A<\/p>\n

\u00a0Members of Tasmania Parks and Wildlife Service helped managed the incident. (ABC News: Mackenzie Heard)<\/p>\n

Residents warned of bird flu risk<\/p>\n

Emma Eustace lives near the beach and sounded the alarm when she spotted the whale at about 6.45pm.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Emma Eustace phoned authorities to report the whale. (ABC News: Mackenzie Heard)<\/p>\n

“The tide was at its peak at that stage and it just didn’t seem to be moving. It was staying quite stationary, so I came down to the beach,” Ms Eustace said.<\/p>\n

“I rang through to the Marine Conservation [program] who told me to keep an eye on it. After about five minutes, I called them back and said it’s actually bringing itself in. It’s beaching.”<\/p>\n

She was advised that a crew would be sent in the morning, and was warned to not approach the whale as it may have bird flu.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Greg and Cath Tompos at Turners Beach. (ABC News: Mackenzie Heard)<\/p>\n

Local Greg Tompos said the Turners Beach was popular year-round, and the whale sighting was unusual.<\/p>\n

“You’d probably have 50 or 80 people walking the beach every day. Even this time of year you’ll get people swimming,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The only other thing we’ve seen like this is a seal, and this is obviously much different than a seal.”<\/p>\n

Stranded whales can be reported to the Marine Mammal Hotline on 0427 942 537.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A large sperm whale that washed ashore on Tasmania’s north-west coast has died. Last night, Tasmania Police said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":936575,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,503418,128,421594,503420,503421,18204,503419,338],"class_list":["post-936574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wildlife","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-north-west-tasmania","tag-science","tag-stranded-whale","tag-stranded-whale-tasmania","tag-stranded-whale-turners-beach","tag-whales","tag-whales-tasmania","tag-wildlife"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936574","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=936574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/936574\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/936575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=936574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=936574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=936574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}