Three pygmy killer whales rescued from the Port of Kaohsiung (高雄港) died on Friday night despite hours of treatment by experts, who found 18 entangled plastic bags in the stomach of one of the whales.
The three whales were part of more than 20 cetaceans disoriented in the port and reported to Kaohsiung City Government’s Agriculture Bureau on Feb. 4.
The agriculture bureau found the carcasses of a Risso’s dolphin and eight pygmy killer whales in the days following the alert.
Photo: Tsai Ching-hua, Taipei Times
After efforts to rescue three surviving whales failed on Tuesday last week, the bureau, under the advice of Wang Chien-ping (王建平), director of the Marine Biology and Cetacean Research Center at National Cheng Kung University, decided to bring them to shore to save them from dying in the cold weather, it said.
More than 60 people joined the effort to catch them on Friday, including workers from Taiwan International Ports Corp; shipbuilder CSBC Corp, Taiwan; China Steel Corp; the Forestry Bureau; the city government’s Marine Bureau; and rescue associations in Chiayi and Pingtung counties, the agriculture bureau said.
After more than three hours, they managed to bring the three whales to shore and sent them to the university’s research center for medical care.
Despite hours of treatment, the whales lost their lives on Friday night, Wang said yesterday, adding that their cardiopulmonary functions were weak before they died.
Unidentifiable garbage and plastic bags were found in the whales’ stomachs when the center dissected the bodies.
A bundle of “black stuff” was dragged from the stomach of the thinnest whale — the mass turned out to be 18 entangled plastic bags.
“The whale’s stomach was stuffed with bags. It could not take in any more, although it must have been very hungry,” Wang said, while calling on the public to reduce plastic bag use and stop dumping garbage in nature.
Many netizens found the news heart-wrenching, with some saying: “Humans should apologize to you!”
Why the creatures became disoriented is uncertain, the agriculture bureau said, adding that if people find any whales or dolphins disoriented or grounded along the shore, they should immediately report it to the city government using the 1999 hotline.
Beijing could eventually see a full amphibious invasion of Taiwan as the only "prudent" way to bring about unification, the US Department of Defense said in a newly released annual report to Congress. The Pentagon's "Annual Report to Congress: Military and Security Developments Involving the People's Republic of China 2025," was in many ways similar to last year’s report but reorganized the analysis of the options China has to take over Taiwan. Generally, according to the report, Chinese leaders view the People's Liberation Army's (PLA) capabilities for a Taiwan campaign as improving, but they remain uncertain about its readiness to successfully seize
HORROR STORIES: One victim recounted not realizing they had been stabbed and seeing people bleeding, while another recalled breaking down in tears after fleeing A man on Friday died after he tried to fight the knife-wielding suspect who went on a stabbing spree near two of Taipei’s busiest metro stations, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. The 57-year-old man, identified by his family name, Yu (余), encountered the suspect at Exit M7 of Taipei Main Station and immediately tried to stop him, but was fatally wounded and later died, Chiang said, calling the incident “heartbreaking.” Yu’s family would receive at least NT$5 million (US$158,584) in compensation through the Taipei Rapid Transit Corp’s (TRTC) insurance coverage, he said after convening an emergency security response meeting yesterday morning. National
Taiwan has overtaken South Korea this year in per capita income for the first time in 23 years, IMF data showed. Per capita income is a nation’s GDP divided by the total population, used to compare average wealth levels across countries. Taiwan also beat Japan this year on per capita income, after surpassing it for the first time last year, US magazine Newsweek reported yesterday. Across Asia, Taiwan ranked fourth for per capita income at US$37,827 this year due to sustained economic growth, the report said. In the top three spots were Singapore, Macau and Hong Kong, it said. South
Taiwan is getting a day off on Christmas for the first time in 25 years. The change comes after opposition parties passed a law earlier this year to add or restore five public holidays, including Constitution Day, which falls on today, Dec. 25. The day marks the 1947 adoption of the constitution of the Republic of China, as the government in Taipei is formally known. Back then the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) governed China from Nanjing. When the KMT, now an opposition party in Taiwan, passed the legislation on holidays, it said that they would help “commemorate the history of national development.” That
RSS