Ratnagiri: Whale calf pushed into sea after 40-hour rescue operation dies

Despite a 40-hour-long operation to rescue and return it to the sea, a whale calf that encountered complications has tragically died. The calf's lifeless body washed ashore at Ganpatipule in Maharashtra's Ratnagiri district. After sending the whale calf, weighing nearly 4 tons, into the deep sea on Wednesday, it was alive and swimming on its own. But, later it might have developed health-related complications which led to its death, deputy forest officer Girija Desai said.

The 35-foot-long giant marine mammal was pushed back into the sea after a 40-hour operation. It got washed ashore with the high tide late Wednesday night, the official said. Forest officials examined the motionless whale calf and found it dead, she said.

A team of wildlife veterinary experts from Goa will reach the spot in some time and conduct an autopsy, following which the exact cause of the death will be ascertained, she said. Necropsy (post-mortem examination on an animal) is a time consuming process and it may take a day or two, the official said, adding that all due processes will be followed by consulting the wildlife experts team.

Besides personnel from the forest department, police, district administration and the Coast Guard, locals and other stakeholders were also roped-in for the rescue operation of the whale calf, which got stranded on the coast of Ganpatipule in Ratnagiri, located nearly 340 km from Mumbai.