Shire of Harvey forced to close Binningup Beach as juvenile humpback whale is found dead

A beach-goer found much more than they bargained for when cleaning up their local beach last week, coming across the enormous body of a dead whale.

Their discovery of a dead juvenile humpback on Binningup Beach last Friday forced the Shire of Harvey to close the popular beach to visitors with officials coming in to dispose of the whale.

Members of the Dolphin Discovery Centre were the first to receive the call to assess the whale, which at first was believed to be a stranded whale in distress.

When arriving to the scene, the DDC crew quickly declared the whale had died.

The crew used drones to assess the situation and determine the whale was alone, and that this would not be the start of a mass stranding event.

DDC communications manager Axel Grossmann said the unfortunate whale likely died during the mass migration of humpbacks travelling from Antarctica to the North West.

He said while seeing a deceased whale could come as a shock to some, its arrival to the shores was potentially a positive indication of the overall health of the species.

“Over the last couple of decades, humpback whale populations have doubled, even trippled in size,” Mr Grossmann said.

“So naturally, you will have some of these animals passing way, they just don’t make it.”

Mr Grossmann said the estimation of the humpback whale population sat between 40,000 to 70,000, but there had not been an in-depth head count since 2009 to 2012.

“So, basically, if you have a huge amount of animals travelling, you will have some that pass away and combined with the storms we have seen in the last few weeks, they are likely going to be washed up on our beaches,” he said.

“And that’s exactly what we are seeing at the moment.”

He said the whale had no evidence of injury and he commended locals for calling the centre.

“The best thing to do is call the DDC or the Wildcare Helpline so we can then act as quickly as possible,” he said.

“In this case, it was really important for us to get out there quickly, determine the exact location, determine if this is a whale in distress or if it is a dead whale that has been washed up.

“We then have to see if there are more whales further out that may strand themselves as well.”

Ultimately Mr Grossmann said with the severe weather of the past few weeks, it was likely more marine wildlife would be found on the beaches.

And with the centre rescuing yet another sea turtle washed in by the storms on Monday, Mr Grossmann said there was no better time to take to the beaches to look for wildlife in need.