South African Environment Ministry Says Navy Did Not Kill Whales

The South African Navy has been cleared of responsibility in the deaths of dozens of false killer whales in May. The Ministry of Water and Environmental Affairs says the Navy does not use the type of sonar that affects cetacean behaviour.

According to Defenceweb, the ministry was responding to a question by an opposition M.P. regarding the deaths of 45 False Killer Whales in May. The animals beached themselves at Kommetjie, near Cape Town. At the time, some reports claimed the navy’s sonar might have caused the deep-sea animals to beach themselves. Navy spokesman Commander Prince Tshabalala denied the navy had used sonar in the area at the time. Environment ministry officials and scientists at the University of Pretoria were working on a report on the beaching. The ministry said:

Various samples were collected from each whale and once analysed, the report can be completed. Preliminary results indicate that the animals were healthy with no obvious cause for the stranding.

The False Killer Whale (Pseudorca Crassidens) is in fact not a whale, but a large dolphin subspecies that can reach six metres and weigh up to 700 kilograms. The animals are found in deep water at around 1,000 meters on continental shelf sections of the temperate regions of most continents.