Residents butcher stranded whale for meat in Bayelsa community

Residents of Okpoama Community in Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa have butchered a stranded giant whale at the seaside of the Atlantic Ocean close to the community.

The stranded whale, which measured about 15 metres long, 5 metres wide, and 3 metres high, may have been washed off on Tuesday evening due to a low sea wave at the river bank.

Supreme News reports that residents of the community meeting the stranded whale on Wednesday morning trooped out with machetes, hacksaws, and axes to dismember the sea animal for fish.

Supreme News reports that the butchering is still ongoing as of the time of filling out the report at Okpoama Waterside.

Mr Nengi Omietimi, a resident of the community, said: “as you can see, giant whale was washed off this morning in Okpoama beach; things like this happen every five to six or 10 years.

“Young men are here doing what they know best, a lot of people are still queuing waiting at the beach to get their own share of the fish.

“This thing started happening since morning, as you can see this fish can feed the whole community.

“We just found it this morning at the beach, the people you’re seeing here came from different communities to get their own share of the large mammal,” he said.

Mr Tarinyo Akono, a former chairman of Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ) in Bayelsa, who is also an indigene of the community, said that the whale might have died after it got stranded, due to low wave.

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

Also, the youth president of the Okpoama community, Mr. Seiyefa Felix Ben-Basuo, who confirmed the incident, said that the people were at the waterside butchering the sea mammal.

NAN reports that in August 2019, a similar giant whale got stranded at the same waterside and was also butchered by the residents for meat.