Police are looking for two men seen leaving the eastern end of Papamoa Beach Road in a flatbed truck last night, believed to be with a sperm whale jawbone and valuable ivory teeth.

The lower jaw was taken from a dead whale discovered along the beach towards the Kaituna Cut on Thursday.

The Department of Conservation was notified of the find about 1.30-1.45pm, says senior ranger Brad Angus.

Members of the public told police just before 5.50pm that two males were attempting to remove the jawbone of a dead whale near Taylors Reserve. Police attended the scene and two males were seen leaving the beach in a flatbed truck.

The Department of Conservation has agreed protocols with local iwi on managing marine mammal strandings and deaths. Seven iwi representatives had been notified of the whale death yesterday as the first stage of planning appropriate actions to be taken in this instance, says a police spokeswoman.

The thieves struck shortly before DOC staff and iwi representatives turned up, say senior DOC ranger Brad Angus.

'It's a criminal act, an offence under the Marine Mammals Protection Act,” says Brad. 'We are actively investigating that with police.”

The whale a young adult, was being buried on Friday afternoon. Brad's not sure if it's male or female and has no idea how it died.

'We've got some of our staff members down there today with iwi, and they will be looking to bury it today. They may learn something.”

They will be using a digger, and those involved will be wearing personal protection equipment, including filter mask because of the stench. It will be buried deep at an undisclosed location.

Sperm whales are rarely seen non Bay of Plenty beaches.

'It's pretty rare for us in our patch,” says Brad. 'A mature sperm whale turn up north of Papamoa camping ground, that was probably eight odd years ago. It is not a common occurrence by any stretch.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora has banned international trade on sperm whale teeth.