Carcass of a whale
© Debabrata MohantyThe carcass of a whale was found near Mangala river mouth in Puri on Tuesday morning.
In the fifth case of whales washing ashore on Odisha coast, the carcass of another giant whale was found near Mangala river mouth in Puri on Tuesday morning.

Divisional Forest Officer Puri wildlife division Chittaranjan Mishra said the forest department officials have seized the decomposed body of the 38-feet-long whale.

"We will bury the body of the whale after ascertaining its cause of death and and send some of its parts to Bhubaneswar to know the species of the whale. We have sought the experts' opinion," he said.

Odisha forest and wildlife department officials have written a letter to the Ministry of Forest and Environment for investigation into the cases of whale carcasses washing ashore.

Recently, four carcasses of whales were found on the Ganjam, Kendrapara and Puri coast. While a 33-feet long Sperm whale beached on coastline of Ganjam district early this month, a 66-feet long female whale washed ashore at Chinchira beach, an unmanned island under Rajnagar block of Kendrapara district on February 6.

On February 9, carcass of a 50-feet long whale was found from the coast near Motagaon in Brahmagiri area of Puri district. Last week, a 6 feet long pilot whale washed ashore of Island beach near Purunabandh village of Ganjam district.