CURRIMAO, ILOCOS NORTE, Philippines – The carcass of a short-finned pilot whale, a protected species, was washed ashore in Maglaoi Sur village here on Thursday.
The Philippine Coast Guard alerted the provincial agriculture office about the carcass, which was apparently butchered at sea by seafarers long before it drifted ashore, said Arthur Valente, Ilocos Norte coordinator for fishery regulations.
Citing initial examination of the whale, Valente said he suspected that the animal was caught, tied and stripped of meat at sea before it was set adrift.
The pilot whale is the second-largest species in the dolphin family after the killer whale.
Local residents found the decomposing carcass near a clump of exposed coral reefs, with its head, cartilage and tail still intact. Leilanie Adriano, Inquirer Northern Luzon