A seriously injured whale has been rescued by volunteers after it washed up on shore in south China.
The four metre (13 feet) -long pilot whale was found stranded on a beach on Donghai Island in Zhanjiang, Guangdong province on Monday. Locals tried to push it back into the sea but the struggling animal was too weak to swim.
They then discovered several open and bleeding wounds on the whale’s tail, including a tear which experts say was caused by a ship’s propeller and a large bite mark from a shark.
The four metre (13 feet) -long pilot whale was found stranded on a beach on Donghai Island in Zhanjiang, Guangdong province on Monday. It was then transported to a wildlife rescue centre
Locals then discovered several open and bleeding wounds on the whale’s tail, including a tear which experts say was caused by a ship’s propeller and a large bite mark from a shark
The residents then contacted wildlife authorities and a team of 10 rescuers arrived on scene.
Video footage of the dramatic rescue shows locals pouring water on the weak animal as rescuers carefully strap it onto a speedboat to transport it back to an aquatic rescue centre.
‘When we first pushed it out to sea, it wouldn’t float and kept coming back to shore,’ one of the rescuers told Guangdong Television.
Locals tried to push the whale back into the sea but the animal was too weak to swim
Video footage of the dramatic rescue shows locals pouring water on the weak animal as rescuers carefully strap it onto a speedboat to transport it to a rescue base
Images of the whale’s wounds show a massive curved bite mark on its tail, just above a deep tear measuring more than 10 centimetres (3.9 inches).
Rescuers immediately treated its wounds with first-aid supplies and wrapped its tail in a cloth.
They transported the whale to the Guangdong Aquatic Wildlife Rescue Base, where it received additional emergency treatment.
According to Liang Aizhou, the rescue centre’s spokesperson, the whale had been washed ashore on late Sunday night.
Its tail was torn after being hit by a propeller and further injured after being bitten by a shark
The whale, currently under the care of the centre’s (pictured above) wildlife experts, has gained back some of its strength and is currently on the road to recovery
The whale weighed between 400kg (880 lbs) and 450kg (992lbs) and was seriously dehydrated after being stranded on the sand for so long, Liang told Zhanjiang Daily.
Its tail was torn after being hit by a boat’s propeller and further injured after being bitten by a shark, he said.
The whale has gained back some of its strength and is currently on the road to recovery, Liang added.