Another dead whale washes ashore at Odisha’s Rajnagar coast

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Rajnagar, Feb 6:

A 66-feet whale washed ashore near Chinchiri rive mouth under Rajnagar block in Odisha’s Kendrapada district, official sources said today.

The dead whale was spotted along the beach about a kilo meter from Chinchiri rive mouth by locals yesterday who informed the authorities about this.

After getting information, Harekrushna Mallick, Ranger of Rajnagar Forest Range, Forester Kapilendra Pradhan and Ranjit Rout reached the spot to investigate into the matter.

Though the reason of death of the giant whale is yet to be ascertained, the mammal is suspected to have died in the deep waters of Bay of Bengal after being hit by a ship after which it has washed ashore, officials said.

The whale bore injury marks on its tail and abdominal wall, preliminary examination revealed.

The officials seized the carcass and sent it for post-mortem to be conducted today with the help of Rajnagar veterinary officials to ascertain the cause of death.

Notably, this is the first incident in the district where a whale has washed ashore to the coastline.

It may be recalled that a 33-feet dead sperm whale was spotted near Bateswar Temple adjacent to Kantiagada village under Ganjam block on last Wednesday.

It was the third such incident where a whale was washed ashore at Ganjam-Gopalpur coast.