© Ruby Hill
A dead whale washed up on a Bowen beach.
A dead whale found washed up near the North Queensland Cruising Yacht Club in Bowen this morning has been buried.
A spokesperson for the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service (QPWS) said Whitsunday Regional Council (WRC) coordinated the burial of the carcass this afternoon.
Under a Memorandum of Agreement with QPWS, council staff collected measurements, photos and a blubber sample aided by a local turtle volunteer.
After conferring with a James Cook University researcher, a QPWS spokesperson said judging by the pictures posted to Facebook, the whale was believed to be either a dwarf minke whale or an Antartic minke whale.
The whale was brought to the public's attention this morning when Ruby Hill posted a photo to a Bowen community Facebook page.
"This poor little whale didn't make it, pictures taken in front of sail club," Ms Hill said on her post.
In the pictures, the whale looked to have been attacked by another animal.
The QPWS spokesperson said predation was commonly seen in stranded marine mammals that were already sick, injured or deceased.
As dwarf minkes are known to travel through Bowen on their annual migration to the northern Ribbon Reefs near Cooktown in June and July, the spokesperson said it wasn't unusual to spot them in the area.
Comment: For more on the rise in extreme weather phenomena, check out Earth Changes and the Human Cosmic Connection.