Residents call for help for whale

Residents call for help for whale

MANOKWARI, Irian Jaya: Residents have called on both domestic
and foreign experts to come to the rescue of a whale which has
been stranded on Arfai beach since Jan. 5, Antara reported
yesterday.

"Unless there's help soon, the whale will die," one resident
said.

Yopi Muskitta, head of the World Wide Fund for Nature's local
office, said so far there is no clear explanation as to why the
whale was stranded. He suspected that it was hunting for food too
close to the shallow waters.

The whale is from the protected family Balaenopteridae whose
members are reportedly able to survive without feeding for up to
two months.

The whale is reportedly getting weaker because it has not been
able to feed or free itself. Up to yesterday, efforts by local
agencies have not succeeded in freeing the whale because it is
surrounded by coral reefs.

M. Situmorang, of the nature conservation office said on
Saturday that the whale was already distressed and has not had
enough to feed on since low tides stranded it on the beach. The
mammal is 20 meters in length and three meters high. (swe)