A dead whale about 30 feet long has washed up with the tide on the bank of the Andharmanik river in Taltali upazila of Barguna. Local people spotted it on the morning of Wednesday, 9 September, and as the news spread, crowds began arriving from far and wide to see it.

According to local sources, the tide carried the dead whale in from the sea at some point during the night and it became stranded on the river bank. In the morning a few local people saw a huge object on the bank, went closer and found the dead whale. Word spread and the crowd grew. The local forest department and administration were informed and, on reaching the spot, began taking the necessary steps.

Taltali forest range officer Ziaur Rahman told Jago News that forest department staff had gone to the spot. The whale had rotted and was giving off a stench. It was about 30 feet long and roughly 15 feet wide, but because it had swollen as it decomposed, it could not be measured accurately. The smell was so strong that no labourer could go near it for now, but the whale needed to be buried to prevent pollution, and they were trying to bury it.

Asked about the cause of death, District Fisheries Officer Mohammad Zia Uddin told Jago News that the whale could have died from a problem at any level of the water. Research on the sea and river water environment is needed, he said, but there is no research centre there; if there were, the real cause could be found. Most of the time, he said, marine animals die because of environmental faults.

Taltali Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) Atish Sarkar said a forest department team had gone to the spot along with members of the Coast Guard, and work to take the necessary steps was under way. The species of the huge black whale had not yet been confirmed.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.