KUCHING: The Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC) and the Sarawak Museum Department will jointly recover the carcass of a Baleen whale that was found dead floating in the waters off Pulau Seduku in the Batang Lupar River, Sri Aman, last Tuesday.
In a posting on its Facebook account, SFC stated its veterinary and forensics teams, in collaboration with the Museum Department, will collect the whale's bones today.
The carcass of the whale, estimated to be about 10 metres, is currently tied up to a pillar of the under-construction Batang Lupar Bridge, and can only be removed during high tide.
Simunjan Fire and Rescue Station chief, Nazari Haron told the New Straits Times that the SFC - the keepers of the state's wildlife - had requested his department for assistance.
"SFC contacted us to request assistance from firefighters to ensure the safety of people involved in the operation to remove the carcass," he said when contacted today.
Nazari stated that his team inspected the location of the stranded marine mammal yesterday and secured the carcass to prevent it from being washed away by rising river tides.
Even though villagers on the river island spotted the whale floating by, they just let it drift before notifying the authorities.
They, however, posted videos of their chance discovery on social media, prompting SFC on Thursday to launch an investigation.
The SFC also sought assistance from the Fire and Rescue Department to help locate the carcass.
Nazari said upon finding the carcass, his men tied it to the bridge's pillar to prevent it from drifting further through river conditions and strong winds of the current monsoon season.
It is understood that this is the first time a whale carcass has been found in the Batang Lupar River, a river known for its large crocodile population.
SFC, in the Facebook posting, said that preliminary assessments indicated the carcass is "in an advanced state of decomposition and on the verge of disintegration."
It described the whale, apart from measuring approximately 10 meters in length, as having a tail fluke of around 2.8 meters and about 50 throat grooves.