STORY: A fire brigade removed the carcass of a whale stranded on a beach in Rio de Janeiro’s Barra de Tijuca neighbourhood on Saturday (June 7).

Winter marks migration season for whales, making stranded mammals along the coastal region a common sight, veterinarian Yasmin Daoualibi from Rio de Janeiro University’s aquatic mammals lab said.

Residents gathered behind a cordoned-off area as experts collected samples and firefighters used heavy machinery to remove the carcass.

Brazilian media outlets reported that the carcass was from a six-meter-long humpback whale (19.6 feet) and that the operation to remove the dead animal took approximately four hours.

DESCRIPCIÓN DE IMÁGENES

SHOWS: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL (JUNE 7, 2025) (REUTERS - Access all)

1. VARIOUS OF FIREFIGHTERS STANDING NEAR CARCASS OF WHALE STRANDED ON BEACH

2. VARIOUS OF VETS TAKING SAMPLES FROM ANIMAL

3. (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) VETERINARIAN AT RIO DE JANEIRO’S UNIVERSITY’S LABORATORY OF AQUATIC MAMMALS AND BIO INDICATORS, YASMIN DAOUALIBI, SAYING:

“We're in the migration season for these animals, so it's common for some of them to end up on the sand in this coastal region after they die, and we always find these animals stranded. We do a brief analysis and take samples to identify possible alterations.”

4. VETERINARIAN COLLECTING SAMPLES

5. VETERINARIAN HOLDING ORGANISMS FOUND INSIDE WHALE CARCASS

6. FIRE BRIGADE PREPARING TO REMOVE WHALE FROM BEACH

7. LOCALS OBSERVING FIRE BRIGADE WORKING

8. VETERINARIAN REMOVING SAMPLES

9. VARIOUS OF HEAVY MACHINERY REMOVING WHALE CARCASS