Watch: Massive sperm whale that was stranded off Perth coast has died

A massive sperm whale that had stranded offa popular beach near Perth, Western Australia, died Tuesday (Dec 12).The 15-metre(49-feet) long whale diedafter it swam off the sandbank into open water.

“It was moving pretty gingerly and swam only 200 or 300 meters before it really seemed to sort of stop. Its respiration gave us some signs that it really was coming to the end,” said Mark Cugley, Incident Controller from the Parks and Wildlife Service.

Earlier, authorities in Australia were preparing for itseuthanisation.

On Saturday, drone footage showed the whale swimming dangerously close to the shore. Later, it was seen resting on the sandbar of the beach, displaying limited movement.

Experts had warned that the mammal could be at risk of stranding as this kind of behaviour was “unusual and perilous.”

Two-thirds of whale’s body rested on sandbank

Mark Cugley told media that the whale’s tail was free but two-thirds of its body rested on the sandbank.

The beach was closed for swimmers and a shark warning was also issued for the area even though no sharks were spotted yet.

“It’s not really got that energy that you would expect from a healthy animal, so I’d say it’s resting, and I think at the moment it’s protecting one side of itself from any predators, positioning itself in a way that we might expect in an animal who’s not well and needs to rest,” Cugley was quoted as saying by The West Australian last weekend.

“At times, it became grounded on shallow sand bars, and it would swim off again, then it would get grounded again, so it’s concerning, and that’s why we need to fully assess its health,” he had added.

Whale seemedto be stressed out

The official added that the whale was stressed as it exhibited a higher respiration rate.

To keep the animal safe, wet and comfortable, authorities said they kept pouring water on it.

Watch:Whales help store planet-heating carbon emissions

(With inputs from agencies)