The grim disposal of large animals that have died on Scottish beaches is back in the spotlight after an entire pod of long-finned pilot whales washed up on the Orkney Islands, north of the Scottish coast.
Only 12 of the 77 individuals were alive when they washed up on Tresnes Beach on Sandy Island on July 11.
However, after unsuccessful attempts to return to the water, the surviving individuals were put to sleep.
It is believed to be the largest mass stranding of whales in Scotland in decades.
The Orkney Islands Council said it was discussing with community representatives the best way to remove the dead whales from the beach.
If a stranded whale is found alive, an assessment is made as to whether it can be safely returned to the water.
If it cannot, the whale is put to sleep and an autopsy is performed.
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The implementation of these activities is led by the Scottish Marine Animal Stranding Program (SMASS).
According to initial findings, the group of 77 whales that died were healthy before they ran aground.
The animals were found on Sunday Island on Thursday in the largest mass stranding of whales in nearly 100 years.
Officials say that the carcasses of the animals will still be buried, and not returned to the sea, which is sometimes done.
The Orkney Islands Council said at least eight different sites were needed and excavations would begin as soon as possible on the island.
However, the local authorities said that the locations should first be examined in order not to endanger the approximately 700 known archaeological sites on the island.
Dr Brownlow, director of SMASS, was speaking to the BBC after a giant smallmouth washed up on the coast of the town of North Berwick in Scotland's south-east county of East Lothian last year.
A nine-meter-long whale died after it was washed ashore after hitting the rocks.
Dr Brownlow says a necropsy can reveal a lot about a whale's life and what led to its death.
He described in detail some methods of removing whale carcasses from the shores.
Bones in the museum
Dr Brownlow says there are several things to consider when deciding how to dispose of whale carcasses.
"A dead whale must be removed from a public beach so as not to disturb visitors, and to prevent the release of fat and body fluids into the environment that are more unpleasant than dangerous," he says.
"Actually, we found only a few diseases that can be transmitted from dead whales, and we searched very carefully."
The whale carcass can be taken to a landfill, buried on the beach or partially burned.
"They can be taken to our laboratories where the autopsy is performed," adds Dr. Brownlow.
"The skeleton is later often processed by Museum Scotland and added to their collection.
"The soft parts are disposed of in the same way as dead livestock on farms."
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Return to the sea
When 55 whales stranded on the coast of Luisa Island in July 2023, the individuals were transferred to a landfill because the beach is visited by a large number of tourists and local residents.
However, Dr Brownlow says it is important to return as many whales as possible to the marine environment to "recycle nutrients".
"Removing it from the beach, from the marine environment and burning it or taking it to landfill is actually depriving the marine environment of this really important source of nutrients," he explains.
Dead whales provide the marine environment with nutrients, including manganese, phosphorus, iron, and zinc, which are important for the survival of other species.
"It is not necessary to have a high level of them, but they are very important for cellular processes," emphasizes Dr. Brownlow.
"It's called the fall of whales to the bottom - this is where deep ocean animals are primarily cared for, because when whales die and sink to the bottom of the ocean, they form these small islands rich in nutrients that can support the survival of various communities".
He says that sharks and other vultures come to eat the soft tissues of the whale carcass, while other smaller organisms, such as worms, feed on the skeleton.
Burial on the beach
Another way to return the whale to the environment is to bury it on the beach.
"We can bury them on site and this often seems to be very successful, although this has to be done carefully so that burying a carcass on a landscaped beach does not cause disturbance to visitors and the community," he says.
Dr Brownlow adds that a stranded whale can be towed out to sea, but that this must be done carefully so as not to pose a danger to ships, especially as larger whales can float.
The fate of a whale usually depends on two factors: the size of the individual and the place where it ran aground.
"If some large cetaceans, such as fin whales and sej whales, are stranded on a remote island, they can be left to decay naturally," says Dr Brownlow.
"It's incredible the speed with which vultures, especially birds, can eat a whale carcass and within about a year, they are often left with quite gnawed bones and a very healthy marine ecosystem."
SMASS was established to gain a better understanding of the causes of strandings of whales, dolphins, porpoises (porpoises), seals, large sharks and even sea turtles.
Dr Brownlow says he believes the smallmouth that ran aground in North Berwick was taken to landfill.
"It's quite bleak, to be honest," he says.
"I've been to landfills doing post-mortems and it's a pretty miserable end for such a magnificent creature.
"It is the functional end of these animals, and not the one that is actually desirable, both from the point of view of scientists who should conduct research on them, and from the point of view of respect for this animal."
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