Chilean fishermen and residents pull together to save beached whale

Record ID: 80262

  • Title: Chilean fishermen and residents pull together to save beached whale
  • Date: 3rd November 2016
  • Summary: ARICA, CHILE (NOVEMBER 03, 2016) (REUTERS) BEACHED WHALE AT 'LOS GRINGOS' BEACH VARIOUS OF WHALE TRYING TO GET AWAY (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) UNIDENTIFIED FISHERMAN WHO PARTICIPATED IN WHALE RESCUE, SAYING: "We were helping the whale, to give it a new life since it got beached here, on the shore. All the ships in the area, the shellfish gatherers, we worked together to rescue it." VARIOUS OF WHALE TRYING TO FREE ITSELF VARIOUS OF SHIPS, FISHERMEN AND LOCAL RESIDENTS HELPING WHALE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) JAQUELINE ALVAREZ, REGIONAL DIRECTOR OF NATIONAL FISHERIES SERVICES SERNAPESCA, SAYING: "This is a minke whale, approximately 12 metres long. I estimate it weighs eight tonnes. By its size, I would say the whale is an adult. It had superficial wounds caused by being here for such a long time and that there are rocks on the bottom here." VARIOUS OF MEN PUTTING ROPE AROUND WHALE'S BODY SO IT CAN BE TUGGED TO HIGH SEA (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ALFREDO BUSTOS, FISHERMAN WHO PARTICIPATED IN WHALE RESCUE, SAYING: "We tied some ropes around it. It was a bit of a struggle but we were able to do it, to hook her and get her out and, as you can see, she is at sea now." TWO TUG BOATS WHO PULL WHALE TO HIGH SEA
  • Embargoed: 18th November 2016 23:43
  • Keywords: whale beached whale
  • Location: ARICA, CHILE
  • City: ARICA, CHILE
  • Country: Chile
  • Topics: Environment,Nature/Wildlife
  • Reuters ID: LVA00156W7FX5
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: A minke whale has been given a second chance of life on Thursday (November 03) after strangers banded together on a Chilean beach to save the beached mammal.
    Fishermen and locals in Arica, Chile managed to put the whale out to see after it came ashore.
    "We were helping the whale, to give it a new life since it got beached here, on the shore. All the ships in the area, the shellfish gatherers, we worked together to rescue it," said this unidentified fisherman who participated in the rescue.
    Jacqueline Alvarez, Regional Director of the National Fisheries Services SERNAPESCA, estimated the animal weighed eight tonnes.
    "This is a minke whale, approximately 12 metres long. I estimate it weighs eight tonnes. By its size, I would say the whale is an adult. It had superficial wounds caused by being here for such a long time and that there are rocks on the bottom her," she said.
    Quick thinking fishermen and residents used a rope to move the magnificent animal back to the Pacific Ocean.
    "We tied some ropes around it. It was a bit of a struggle but we were able to do it, to hook her and get her out and, as you can see, she is at sea now," said fisherman, Alfredo Bustos.
    The beaching of the minke whale is rare for Chile.
    Typically, whale season in the South American nation runs from December to March when populations of the mammal make their long migration from the warmer latitudes, where they mate and give birth in southern Chile.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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