stranded for hours - whale shark dies on bali beach

A whale shark died of exhaustions after being stranded at Pekutatan Beach in Bali’s Jembrana regency. It was found by the locals a few hours before its death.

The locals found the stranded whale around 5 in the morning. They tried their best to push and help the helpless mammal back to the sea but were unable to do because of the low tides and lack of equipment. Hence the whale shark remained on the ashore alive till 1 pm.

“We tried to save the whale shark, but because we don’t have any equipment and the water started to recede [due to low tide], its chances of floating was very small,” I Gusti Agung Sukasana, who heads the Pekutatan sub-precinct, said.

The poor shark which is estimated to be around 5 to 6 meters long and weighed around 1.5 tons finally gave up and succumbed to its death around 2 Pm.

Natural Resources Conservation Center (BKSDA) officers have since then buried the corpse. Reportedly a small part of its body was took by the authorities for research purpose and to determine the cause of the death. In addition, there have reportedly been three separate incidents of whales getting stranded on Pekutatan Beach this year.