Bhubaneswar: A rare baby whale shark was rescued by some locals at the Pati Sonepur coast of Odisha’s Ganjam district on Sunday.
The eight to nine-feet-long baby whale shark, washed ashore off the Pati Sonepur coast, was released into sea by the locals.
According to Berhampur Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) Ashis Behera, despite the whale’s length, it is still a baby.
Adult whale sharks are usually over 40 feet in length, he added. The whale had no injuries at the time of being rescued.
Locals spotted the whale shark on Sunday at Pati Sonepur beach, about 35 km from Berhampur. They managed to push the whale shark back into the sea within an hour.
Earlier, a whale shark was spotted in Gopalpur sea in 2010. The fish was found a second time near Gopalpur port in 2016.
In February 2009, a 19-feet-long carcass of a whale shark had been washed ashore off the Ganjam district coast near Gopalpur. In June 2010, a 30-feet-long decomposed body of a whale shark had been found in the same area.
