Stranded whale faces slow death

A humpback whale – injured but alive – has been stranded off the coast of Höfn, in eastern Iceland, for at least three days.

The whale is around 12-15 m long and appears to be in rather bad shape. It is almost fully submerged at high tide, but lies exposed in shallow water at low tide. Adult humpbacks weigh 25-40 tonnes.

The situation was reported to police on Tuesday evening and all relevant authorities have apparently been informed. It is the responsibility of the municipality to put down the animal, if need be.

According to Runólfur Hauksson, the local man who contacted police and took the above photos, it has been a good number of years since any whale has become stranded in Skarðsfjörður, near Höfn.

“Sadly, it looks like the poor animal has a long, slow death ahead of it,” says Hauksson. “It won’t be able to free itself from there, and even if it did, it is in such a bad state it certainly wouldn’t survive. I have been in touch with the Senior Veterinarian at the Food and Veterinary Authority. There are working on finding a powerful enough weapon to put an end to the whale’s suffering.”

Photo: Runólfur Hauksson