Dozens of beached whales die
Only three out of over 40 stranded animals saved
FORTY-SIX small whales stranded on a beach in Indonesia have died, after rescue efforts succeeded in saving three others, local officials said.
Starting Thursday, at least 49 short-finned pilot whales arrived at a beach on Madura Island in northern Java, authorities said in a statement on Friday.
Large crowds gathered as a rescue operation was launched, with volunteers using tarpaulins or just their bare hands to try to push the pod back out to sea.
Curious onlookers took pictures and touched the whales, while others tried to splash water on them.
In the end, only three of the animals survived.
“The live whales had to be released together as they live in a group,” said East Java governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa in the statement.
He said officials had taken samples of the carcasses for further investigation into the cause of death.
He added that the corpses, which measured between three and five
metres each, would be buried on the beach at low tide.
Offshore cross-currents in the area pose a danger to whales as they can get caught between reefs close to land.
Pollution, abandoned nets and
floating plastic waste are also common dangers faced by marine animals.
In July last year, 10 pilot whales were found dead near Kupang, a town in East Nusa Tenggara province. In 2018, a sperm whale was found dead in Indonesia with more than 100 plastic cups and 25 plastic bags in its stomach, raising concerns about the South-East Asian archipelago’s massive marine rubbish problem. — AFP