A whale stranded in Hong Kong waters has died, hours after authorities found it wounded and in a weak condition. Experts discovered a canvas bag measuring about half a square metre in the animal’s belly, after it died at midnight on Sunday.
The Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) said in a Sunday statement that vets from the Ocean Park Conservation Foundation (OPCFHK) found the whale in an “extremely weak condition” before it died on Sunday, while diagnostic procedures were being carried out.
The mammal, identified as an Indo-Pacific beaked whale, was found stranded in the waters off Yi O on Lantau Island on Saturday. It was then taken into deeper waters to be sedated and examined, AFCD Assistant Director for Fisheries and Marine Conservation Jim Chu told RTHK on Monday.
“The AFCD immediately activated the Response Plan to the Sighting of non-resident Cetaceans in Hong Kong Waters and has conducted inspections of the waters in the vicinity together with relevant departments and the OPCFHK personnel,” read a statement issued Saturday.
It also urged the public and vessels to stay away from the whale to avoid causing harm.
Bag found in stomach
The AFCD received the initial report from the police at about 3:40 pm that afternoon and located the animal with the Ocean Park vets at nightfall. It died hours later, shortly after midnight on Sunday.
The AFCD staff and the Ocean Park vets conducted a necropsy on the whale carcass to investigate the cause of death.
Chu said a canvas bag measuring 88 by 52 centimetres was found intact in the sea mammal’s digestive system, which he said may have blocked the animal’s digestive tract.
The vets also found no traces of food in the whale’s stomach or intestines, and it looked thinner than a healthy whale would, he added.
“That may be a sign that it had a hard time eating,” Chu said.
According to an initial assessment, the whale was about five to six metres in length, and had a wound on its body. But the wound was not from a boat propeller, nor did it show signs of a strong collision with a vessel, Chu said.
The whale may have split off from a pod of other whales or lost its way, Chu said when asked about why it swam into shallow waters.
The carcass of a Bryde’s whale was found in Hong Kong waters last July, with authorities saying wounds on its back may have been caused by a propeller.
