© Department of ConservationThe giant dead stranded whale at Waiinui Beach.
Residents of Waitotara were surprised to discover what is believed to be a dead 22.3m-long pygmy blue whale washed up on the beach, about 1.5km south of the river mouth, sometime on late Friday night or early Saturday morning.
A Wanganui Department of Conservation spokesman said if this was a pygmy blue whale, it was a rare specimen and the only one of its kind to have washed up on this coastline for at least 30 years.
Then overnight Sunday a large sperm whale stranded itself on the beach.
Unable to re-float the large mammal, DOC staff had to put the sperm whale down.
" Residents of Waitotara were surprised to discover what is believed to be a dead 22.3m-long pygmy blue whale"
I'm pretty sure it's dead. If it's not those people are in for a shocker!