Surat: A two-ton 2—feet long whale calf was washed ashore in Allpad taluka of Surat district of Gujarat on Sunday evening and was rescued by the locals and returned to the sea after hours long hectic efforts, officials said. It is learnt that the locals in Allpad taluka spotted the whale calf washed ashore on the coast off Mor village.
According to the local sources, the village youths who went fishing in the sea of Peacock village saw the whale calf floating in the sea while returning home in the evening. As soon as the baby whale was spotted in the sea, a huge crowd of villagers thronged to the spot to have a glimpse of the massive creature. The villagers on seeing the whale struggling to breath on the shore, swung into action to save the animal.
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With the youth of the village seeing the whale calf stranded on the shore struggling to save its life due to lack of water, the first thing the villagers could do was to provide with ample amount of water to help it breath to sustain its life. So the local youth swung into action and dug a large pit and filled it with water.
The whale calf was later put into the pit to enable it to breath from water. In the meantime, the locals informed the Forest Department officials and local NGO Prayas. According to Deepak Patel of the forest department of Allpad taluka, the staff reached the beach in the evening and started rescuing the whale calf.
Sachin Gupta, Deputy Conservator of Forests, Surat Forest Department said that they received a distress call from the villagers at around 7 pm after which a team of rescuers was rushed to the spot. “Our effort is to return this whale fish to the sea as soon as possible. The weight of this fish is about 2 tonnes,” Gupta said.
However reports said that the whale was finally returned to the sea after hours of hectic efforts.
