Two humpback whale calves beached themselves at St Lucia and Amanzimtoti on Tuesday morning and had to be put down.
Wildlife authorities said the whale calves were in distress and the humane decision was taken to put them down. Scientists are baffled as to why the whale calves beached and said the mammals had been highly stressed.
Mike Anderson-Reade, head of operations at the KZN Sharks Board, said the Sharks Board had been at the scene at Amanzimtoti on Tuesday morning but at the end of the day KZN Wildlife was reponsible for dealing with the issue. He said it was “always extremely stressful and emotional” dealing with a beached whale.
The Sharks Board had successfully released more than 40 whales from shark nets in the past 10 years, and had never lost a whale, he said.
This follows shortly after the Ballito whale saga, where an adult humpback was found dead on the shore at Boulders Beach, Ballito, and was on the beach for almost a week before it was removed.