The state government says it’s not concerned about the deaths of two whales off the central Queensland coast (Australia)

January 09, 2013. A large sperm whale was found washed aground at Curtis Island this week and a smaller whale – which is yet to be identified – was found on Great Keppel Island.

The Department of Environment and Heritage Protection said the sperm whale’s carcass was too decomposed to determine the cause of death.

Samples from the second whale, which were collected by a member of the public who found the carcass, will be sent to the Queensland Museum for identification, but the cause of death of that animal was also unknown, the department’s Southern Great Barrier Reef Area Manager Graham Hemson said in a statement.

“These two incidents appear unrelated and we don’t have any cause for concern,” he said.

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