Rescued whale shark washes ashore dead in Tamil Nadu

MADURAI: An 18.8-foot-long whale shark (Rhincodon typus) that was rescued by Tamil Nadu forest department personnel in the Tuticorin range of the Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park on Wednesday night was washed ashore on Thursday morning.
Postmortem revealed that the juvenile female whale shark had suffered an injury behind its head. It might have suffered the injury after being hit by the propeller of a fishing boat, officials said.

Tuticorin forest range officer R Raghuvaran told TOI that they were not aware of the injury when the shark whale, weighing about one tonne, was spotted close to the shore at Inigo Nagar near Tuticorin city around 7.30pm on Wednesday. The whale shark could have been seven to ten years old.


“It was struggling in shallow waters and could not get back to the deep sea. With the help of fishermen, we took it to around 10 nautical miles off the coast and released it around 8.30pm,” he said.

Around 5.30am on Thursday, forest personnel received information that whale shark -- that is protected under Schedule I of The Wildlife Protection Act 1972 -- was washed ashore dead.


After postmortem, the carcass was buried in a six-foot- deep pit. Acid and limestone powder were sprinkled on the carcass to destroy it in accordance with the norms.