Thoothukudi: As many as 42 short finned pilot whales (Globicephala Macror-hyncha) among 95 stranded between the Kallamozhi and Manappad shore in Thoothukudi district, have died. Wildlife protection officers, along with the marine police, revenue officials and local fishermen pushed the mammals that were still alive back into the sea. But most of them are critical and need to be pushed into deeper waters if they are to survive, according to marine research scholars.
Assistant Director of Tuticorin Fisheries Department Amal Xavier said, “There could be many reasons...navy sonars could have caused it...or pollution...the reason is not immediately known and we don’t want to speculate.”
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A few whales had been found washed ashore at Alanthalai and Kalla-mozhi villages on Monday evening and local fishermen managed to push them back into the waters.
The stranded oceanic animals, however, turned back and swam to the nearby Manappad shore. Following the first group came a bigger one of whales, which too were caught in the shallow water that left all of them struggling for life.
On information trickling through of the Manapad beached whales, officials from the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park, led by wild life warden Deepak S. Bilgi, rushed to rescue the mammals.
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The attempts at rescue did not, however, bear total fruit as 42 whales breathed their last. The 53 whales found alive in the water were pushed out at least 500 metres into the sea.
According to the marine research scholar, Mathew of Suganthi Devathasan Marine Research Institute who collected skin samples of the dead animals, many among the 53 pushed into the water were in a critical state.
He added that unless the whales were dragged into the deep sea using mechanised fishing boats they cannot be saved.
