Bayelsa residents butcher stranded whale

Residents of Okpoama community in Brass LGA of Bayelsa State have butchered a stranded whale on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean.

The whale, said to be about 15 metres long, might have been washed ashore on Tuesday night.

City & Crime reports that when the residents met the whale on Wednesday morning, they trooped out with machetes, knives and axes to cut up the sea animal for fish.

A former Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Bayelsa State and an indigene of the area, Mr Tarinyo Akono, said the whale might have died after it got stranded due to low waves.

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He stated that the animal was grounded in the night when people had gone to sleep, noting that if it were found alive, it could have been rescued and sent back to sea.

Also, the Youth President of Okpoama community, Engr Seiyefa Felix Ben-Basuo, who confirmed the incident, said people were at the waterside butchering the animal.

It was further gathered that in August, 2019, a similar giant whale got stranded at the same waterside and was butchered by the residents for meat.