A dead dwarf sperm whale was discovered on Thursday morning at Vunito Goloa Village in Ra. This species, the smallest in the whale family, is even smaller than many dolphins.
Villagers reported that the whale appeared to have been injured. Village headman Josefa Manakiwai noted that the mammal measured approximately 3.6 meters in length. He mentioned that villagers who had returned from fishing found the whale on the shore and suspected it had been dead since the previous night or early morning. “It might have been bitten by a huge shark out in the open sea, as we can see the marks on its body,” he stated.
Manakiwai emphasized that whales rarely wash up on their shores unless they have been harmed in the ocean. This incident marks the second occurrence of a whale stranding in the area, with the first noted in 1993 when another injured whale was found.
Rusiate Waqata, the service center manager with the Ministry of Fisheries in Rakiraki, confirmed that the mammal was indeed a dwarf sperm whale, stating, “It must have been bitten and was stranded out here.”