Overview

• The carcass of a six-meter sei whale was spotted Monday near Parque de la Memoria and Tierra Santa on Buenos Aires’ Costanera Norte, marking the second fatal stranding in under a week after a juvenile was found on July 9 at Vicente López.
• Prefectura Naval Argentina, Defensa Civil and local police secured the site with perimeters but have yet to begin the removal operation.
• Experts have extracted biological samples from the latest carcass and plan full necropsies to determine whether disease, navigational errors or environmental factors were involved.
• Officials warn that the decomposed bodies of the whales pose sanitary risks due to potential pathogens and internal gas buildup.
• Sei whales were nearly exterminated by mid-20th-century hunting and only recently reappeared in the Río de la Plata; specialists say juveniles can stray into low-salinity waters when ill or disoriented.