A dwarf sperm whale reportedly died as it was being evacuated to a conservation facility yesterday afternoon after the sea mammal was found stranded and covered in wounds earlier in the morning on Serangan Beach in southern Denpasar.
I Made Sukanta, manager of the Turtle Conservation and Education Center in Serangan, first received reports of the stranded whale at around 10am, according to local media.
Along with officers from the Natural Resources Conservation Center (BKSDA) in Bali, they made an attempt to return the creature to the sea, but the dwarf sperm whale became stranded again on the same beach about an hour later.
A video posted by BKSDA Bali on Instagram showed the dwarf sperm whale swimming slowly in the shallow waters.
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BKSDA Bali proceeded to evacuate it to the Bali Exotic Marine Park, also in southern Denpasar, but the sea mammal, unfortunately, died en route.
The center’s early diagnosis indicated that the dwarf sperm whale suffered from chronic parasitic infections.
“But we need to make sure the cause of death by conducting a lab exam,” I Ketut Catur Marbawa from BKSDA Bali told Kompas.com.
This isn’t the first time a whale has washed up on Bali’s shores. Just last month, animal activists and local residents managed to return a pilot whale stranded on Biaung Beach in eastern Denpasar to the sea.
However, the carcass of a melon-headed whale was discovered on Penimbangan Beach in northern Bali’s Buleleng regency on Aug. 22. The sea mammal had also been covered in wounds, which according to BKSDA might have been bites from cookiecutter sharks.
The dwarf sperm whale is one of the most commonly beached deep-diving whales in the world. They can be found in temperate and tropical seas across the world.
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