© Bintulu Fire and Rescue DepartmentA sad end for the whale, as the carcass was found not far from where it was beached a day after it was pushed back into the sea.
The Fire and Rescue Department team despatched to Tanjung Batu beach at 7.30pm on Friday, managed to bring it back to sea after a three-hour attempt despite choppy waters.
Expressing disappointment, Bintulu Fire and Rescue Department chief William Baheng said the whale had been alive and well when they managed to bring it back to the sea, but the discovery of its carcass by the public earlier today was saddening.
"We did our best to save it despite bad weather. But to hear about the discovery of the carcass in the morning is sad news for us," said Baheng when contacted by The Rakyat Post.
A Sarawak Forestry Corporation spokesperson identified the carcass as the Cuvier's Beaked Whale or Ziphius Cavirostris, among the world's threatened marine mammal species, as listed under International Union for Conservation of Nature.
"They are widely distributed in offshore waters from the tropics to the polar regions in both hemispheres.
"Native within the waters of this region, they are also found in many enclosed seas, such as the Gulf of California, Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea, Sea of Japan, and the Sea of Okhotsk," said the spokesperson.
The Cuvier Beaked Whale is also the only species of beaked whale regularly found in the Mediterranean.
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