深圳海域被困抹香鯨已確認死亡

3月12日晚6時30分許，一頭長達12米的抹香鯨遊入惠州大亞灣海域。據瞭解，這頭抹香鯨此前在深圳大鵬海域因被漁網纏住受傷，經解救後脫困遊往惠州大亞灣海域，在惠州港附近海域幾度擱淺，14日晚專家們認為基本上無法挽救，只能讓其自然死亡，然後研究並製作標本。3月15日下午，宣佈救助失敗已經死亡的抹香鯨被拖到惠州碼頭後起吊運走。

Writer: Han Ximin

THE four-day effort to rescue a 3-ton sperm whale that was stranded twice in the Daya Bay sea area has come to a sad end.

At around 11 a.m. yesterday, experts pronounced the 12.5-meter-long whale dead.

The whale’s body has been towed to Huizhou Port. An autopsy will be conducted by experts from Sun Yat-sen University and aided by experts from Hong Kong Ocean Park today.

Experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences thought that the whale might have died from choking after it was stranded. They suggested making the whale into a specimen for science popularization and research. According to the director of the Huizhou fishery administration, the water where the whale was stranded was only 1 meter deep.

A team from the Shenzhen Museum arrived at Huizhou Port yesterday, hoping the specimen could be settled at an independent exhibition area at the museum.

The whale was found stranded in a fishing net Sunday and was rescued. Experts suspected that it had problems with sound navigation and ranging system as it had been wavering for hours in the shallow water and had trouble swimming back into deep sea after it was saved.

On Monday, it was stranded again and a rescue operation was conducted by Dapeng and Huizhou fishery administrations.

Experts Tuesday night allowed it to die a natural death as a miracle was unlikely.