Overview
- The extended necropsy on Anholt, completed on Thursday, confirmed the carcass was the previously tracked whale and that the animal was female while offering no definitive cause of death.
- Examiners reported no fishing nets or other man-made objects in the whale’s mouth or stomach and found parasites that current judgment does not attribute to death.
- Tissue and laboratory analyses taken during the autopsy will take months to return results because decomposition limited what could be concluded on site.
- Public disputes have intensified after earlier officials and specialists described the animal as male; rescuers, private groups and a prominent influencer have traded accusations over who misidentified the sex and how the response was handled.
- A separate early-June sighting of a possibly injured humpback in the Schelde near Antwerp has renewed concern about more strandings in shallow, busy waterways and kept authorities on alert.