Whales beached in Japan
Date: 26-Feb-02
Country: JAPAN
Firefighters and local aquarium staff of Ibaraki Prefecture heaved the surviving whales onto trucks and transported them to the port of Hasaki. The whales, each around two metres (6 ft 7 in) long, were found early yesterday.
The other 53 whales were dead when the 85 whales were discovered.
Researchers will examine the carcasses to try to determine why they ended up on the beach.
"They may have got lost while chasing prey, or there may be some illness involved," an official at the prefectural fisheries department said.
Another 10 dead melon-headed whales were discovered beached about 6 miles away the previous day.
The Yomiuri Shimbun daily reported that local residents had ignored health warnings and cut pieces from the mammals for personal consumption, calling the beached whales "gifts from the sea."
Japanese have a custom of eating whale meat, which has become expensive due to a ban on commercial whaling. All the whale meat that ends up in the market comes from Japan's controversial scientific whaling programme.
"In principle we don't think it's a good idea to eat them, as they may have been sick," the fisheries official said.
He said the carcasses will be buried along the coastline.
A year ago, 50 melon-headed whales were found beached in the same area. About half were rescued.