SANYA: With a splash, the short-finned pilot whale plunged from a scientific research ship back into the sea in south China’s island province of Hainan on Sunday, 145 days after it was rescued.
“This is the first short-finned pilot whale successfully rescued in China,” said Pu Bingmei, secretary general of the non-profit organization BlueRibbon Ocean Conservation Association (BROCA), who noted that the case could offer important reference for marine rescue work.
The male whale Haitang was found injured and stranded in the Haitang Bay of Sanya City on January 3. After coordinated efforts, it was sent to the Haichang animal conservation center and named after where it was rescued.
Pu remembered that at the beginning, Haitang was so weak that it faced the risk of being drowned in the water. More than 100 volunteers of BROCA took turns to take care of it in the pond around the clock.
Out of stress response, the whale once attacked a volunteer. But the behavior didn’t stop volunteers from accompanying it. –Agencies
