A very unfortunate incident came to light on Monday, when a 40-feet Bryde’s whale carcass washed ashore in Navy Nagar, Colaba in Mumbai.
According to a report in Hindustan Times, the incident first came to light on Saturday when local residents spotted the whale carcass in the shallow water near the shore. But as the residents were unable to contact forest officials on Sunday, the officials located the carcass on Monday afternoon. Though the experts from state mangrove cell are yet to ascertain the cause of the mammal’s death, they suspect that the animal may have died two weeks ago.
The whale’s tail which was approximately 14 feet was found behind Oyster apartment building near Pilot Bunder Road. While the rest of whale’s body which was about 26 feet was spotted 500 metres away, behind a construction site on Shahid Bhagat Singh Road.
“I told the local fishermen about the whale, but they did not believe me. After an unsuccessful attempt to contact the state mangrove cell on Sunday, I was able to get through the officials and took them to the site on Monday,” a Navy Nagar resident told Hindustan Times.
The marine life experts have said that Bryde’s whale, common in the Arabian sea and protected under schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
“Since we have seen similar cases in the past, we can rule out the possibility of an accident with a ship. The carcass seems to be of an adult and might have split into two after hitting a rock as it washed ashore during high tide,” Makarand Ghodke, assistant conservator of forests, state mangrove cell told Hindustan Times.
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