PANAJI
A dwarf sperm whale beached at Palolem on March 26. Despite frantic efforts by a bunch of tourists to push the whale back into the sea, it kept returning to the beach and ultimately died.
The crowd who had gathered there in a bid to touch and click photos of the animal, heckled the lifeguards, forest officials as well as tourists who were trying to save the mammal.
“This incident has highlighted the need to develop a robust marine mammal stranding response network in the state to ensure such incidents are handled appropriately in the future especially to manage crowds to ensure minimal stress to both the distressed animal and the rescue teams,” Puja Mitra senior Programme Coordinator, WWF-India, Goa Office, said. The whale was noticed by locals and tourists at the Palolem beach near the Dropadi Restaurant. Recounting the incident, a tourist Megha Janakiraman said that neither the police nor the forest guards nor the lifeguards could control the crowd which made it difficult for rescuers to save the whale.
“I was horrified at the fact that people were tugging at the tail fin of what appeared to them to be that of a dolphin. Attempts by another tourist and myself to keep the curios onlookers from touching the mammal was met with anger and ridicule. All attempts to get the lifeguards at Palolem Beach involved to manage the crowd were met with point blank refusal,” Janakiraman said.
“ A police officer, who came to the spot, just stood around and didn’t take any action on the pretext that he was alone. During my attempt to keep people away from the animal, I was repeatedly yelled at and abused for trying to help. Some tourists even threatened physical abuse,” she said. “Despite the presence of allegedly qualified officials from the police, the forest department and the Cotigao Wildlife Sanctuary, not one official was actually able to help with any aspect of the situation. It was left to the judgement of private individuals to make such decisions,” she said.
Taking note of the incident, WWF has recommended capacity building of departmental vets to implement a response strategy. “Crowd control strategies have to be put in place in collaboration with the local police departments to ensure minimal stress to the stranded animals and rescue teams on the scene,” the WWF suggested. Beaching of whales is an increasingly common phenomenon with several incidents being noticed along the West Coast of India.
