Malaysia: Whale beaches in Bintulu

Dennis Wong New Straits Times 17 Jan 14;

SAVED: It swims back into the sea two hours later

BINTULU: A JUVENILE fin whale was found beached near Kampung Kuala Tatau here yesterday.
People were alerted about the stranded 12m-long calf about 10am after a villager saw it spouting water from its blowhole.

Masuhut Ayub, 55, who spotted the whale, said: "The water shot up 2m high. I decided to take a look, and only then realised the whale was stranded on the shore."

He alerted other villagers to help bring the mammal back into the sea, but their efforts were hampered by the low tide.

"All we could do was keep the whale wet, as its skin was showing signs of stress from being exposed to the sun.

"We believe that the whale could have found its way here during the low tide in the morning," said Masuhut.

Villagers took turns to pour water on the whale, while waiting for the tide to rise.

They believed that it may have lost its way, following bad weather the previous day.

The whale managed to swim back into the sea two hours later, at high tide about noon.

On Dec 28, the carcass of a short-finned pilot whale was found washed ashore at Pasir Panjang in Santubong, near Kuching.

The Sarawak Forestry department said it was the first discovery of the whale species in the state. The pilot whale's discovery marked the 16th species of marine mammal found in Sarawak.

Whale stranded in Bintulu
The Star 17 Jan 14;

BINTULU: A whale, which was still alive, was found stranded on the Kuala Tatau beach early Wednesday morning by a family who were out walking on the beach.

Rosmiros Mesral, 50, said she and her family members found the whale stranded motionless on the beach.

"Initially, I did not expect this large object on the beach to be a whale. I moved closer and realised it was indeed a whale. I immediately called my husband and children," she said when contacted Thursday.

The mother of three said the whale started to move after her son poured water on its head.

"The whale started to move and my family and I were shocked to see tears flowing from its eyes.

"Sympathising with its condition, we started pushing the whale towards the sea. It was difficult but we succeeded in pushing it back into the sea by 11 am," she said.

Rosmiros regarded the incident as strange because there had never been such an incident on the Kuala Tatau beach in the past.

"I was born in Bintulu. This is the first time this strange incident took place. It could be due to the weather and the condition of the sea which caused it to be stranded," he said.

News on the finding of the whale was disseminated widely on the social media since yesterday leading rise to various speculation among the local populace.

Among others, the fear of a recurrence of tsunami and there were others who connected the incident to monsoon season. - Bernama