In a joint effort by locals and fishermen, a 47-feet blue whale was rescued near the shallow waters in Ratnagiri district in Maharashtra on Sunday
In a joint effort by locals and fishermen, a 47-feet blue whale was rescued near the shallow waters in Ratnagiri district in Maharashtra on Sunday.
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50 ft. Beached Blue #Whale rescued by village in #India. Team work & #compassion save the day. Great Job pic.twitter.com/3PZGsU7Xbg
— Daniel Schneider (@BiologistDan) September 11, 2016
The whale was looking dehydrated, weak and was spotted fighting for its survival by the residents.
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It needed the effort of 50 people including forest officials and two boats to send the blue whale into its natural habitat and the moment it was pulled in to the deep water, it swam further into the sea.
N Vasudevan, chief conservator, mangrove conservation cell, said, "It appeared emaciated and must have drifted some days ago. But since this is an isolated spot, it was spotted on Saturday and we were informed by the locals."
As it was late evening that day, rescue operations using boats and fishing nets were carried out on Sunday. The operation lasted six hours and the whale was led into the deep seas. This is the second successful rescue of a blue whale in the same region, he said.