"Strange and unusual". Dead killer whale washes ashore in Belgium

The killer whale was first spotted off the Belgian coast on Sunday, October 29th. Kelle Moreau from RBINS noted that it initially drifted along the Belgian coast towards France.

Near Saint-Idesbald, the killer whale started nearing the shore. Initially, attempts were made to deter it using boats. However, the animal later struggled to return to the deeper waters.

"The killer whale swam close to shore repeatedly. It tried several times to navigate back to the sea, but the rough waves made it excessively difficult," reported Kelle Moreau from the Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences (RBINS).

The sea washed the animal ashore later that day, at the beach in De Panne town. Despite numerous rescue attempts, saving the killer whale was impossible. The police cordoned off a section of the beach to prevent curious passersby from disrupting the scientists' work.

The animal found on the beach was determined to be a male, approximately nineteen feet in length. It is unclear why it swam so close to the shore. Specialists hope that the completed autopsy will reveal clues to its cause of death.

Only four instances of killer whales in the vicinity of Belgium have been recorded since 1900. The most recent one before this washed ashore in 1950.

In October 2022, a female killer whale was found stranded near the town of Cadzand in the Netherlands. It was also impossible to rescue her.

Killer whales could be attracted to the North Sea region due to the abundance of food, including fish and seals. "The waters here offer a plentiful supply of food for them," said Jan Haelters, a biologist from RBINS, in an interview with the VRT portal. "However, it's strange and unusual for these creatures to come so close to our coast," he added.