Warning: Graphic images 

A dead whale has washed up on the beach in the north Auckland suburb of Red Beach. 

Resident Judith Marsden said one of her neighbours, who had been walking his dog, knocked on her door this morning and told her what happened. 

She said an estimated 30-40 people from the surrounding houses and suburbs have come down to see it. 

A whale washed up on Auckland's Red Beach this morning with its head split open. A ceremony took place on the beach before being cordoned off by DOC officials and between 30-40 residents from Red Beach and the surrounding suburbs have come to pay their respects. Photo / Supplied 

“There are a lot of children who have.... never seen anything like it. 

“It smells how you would imagine a rotting carcass would smell.” 

A blessing on the beach has already taken place and it has since been cordoned off by conservation officers while they decide what to do with the biohazard. 

DOC told the Herald staff are on-site and were working with mana whenua on any next steps, and that the species could potentially be a pygmy blue whale. 

A whale washed up on Auckland's Red Beach this morning with its head split open. A ceremony took place on the beach before being cordoned off by DOC officials and between 30-40 residents from Red Beach and the surrounding suburbs have come to pay their respects. Photo / Supplied 

Marsden said that officials had received reports of sightings of the whale in distress or pain in and around the Tiritiri Matangi Island in Auckland’s Hauraki Gulf, about a week ago. 

Marsden said, normally a beached whale can be floated out to see when the tide comes in, but this one is broken up so DOC officials aren’t quite sure what to do. 

“It’s going to be quite difficult to remove because it has dug down into the sand. 

“It’s already quite smelly so if they have to break it up it’s going to be even worse. But the poor creature has to be dealt with somehow. 

“It’s been a magnificent creature in its time, but sadly its time is up.” 

Red Beach resident Shannon Rogers, who runs a coffee cart on the waterfront, said the beached whale is definitely the discussion of the day in the beachfront suburb. 

She told the Herald that the whale must have been there since last night because of how much of the sand is covering parts of its tail. 

“The whole upper body is ripped in half and there is blood leaking from the carcass, so it’s definitely stinky on the beach”