Eleven pygmy killer whales beached near Haikou Port (海口港) in Pingtung County’s Checheng Township (車城), with seven being returned to the ocean and four dying, the Ocean Conservation Administration said yesterday.
The Marine Animal Rescue Network received reports of the beached animals, which are actually dolphins, despite their name.
The Coast Guard Administration’s Sixth Coastal Patrol Unit passed on a tip from a member of the public, the Ocean Conservation Administration said.
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsien, Taipei Times
A team of 60 people was mobilized in the efforts to save the pygmy killer whales, it said.
After careful assessment, the team moved seven pygmy killer whales whose life signs were stable onto fishing vessels in the harbor that transported them out to sea to be released, it said.
Wang Hao-ven (王浩文), who heads National Cheng Kung University’s Marine Biology and Cetacean Research Center, told reporters that the team was yet to determine why the animals beached and was hesitant to rush to conclusions.
Pygmy killer whales are gregarious creatures that often care for sickly or weak members of their pod, Wang said, adding that the team was not ruling out that the seven healthy pygmy killer whales were beached during low tide while taking care of the other four.
The team included personnel from the Sixth Unit, the National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium, the Cetacean Research Center, the Pingtung County Government, the Taiwan Cetacean Society, and volunteers and members of the Ocean Conservation Administration.
In 2023, four pygmy killer whales were beached, he said.
The center returned them to the water, but the three healthy members of the group would not leave the fourth, which was weakened and remained where they were released, he said.
The healthy three only departed after workers moved the weakened animal elsewhere, he added.
The center would perform autopsies on the four dead pygmy killer whales found yesterday to determine whether they were sick before they beached, Wang said.
Taiwan has recorded nearly 20 incidents of beached pygmy killer whales, most of them in the nation’s southwest in Pingtung County, Kaohsiung or Tainan, the Ocean Conservation Administration said.
The beachings usually occur between the end of February and April, it said, urging the public to report discoveries of beached pygmy killer whales.
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