By THE BORNEOTODAY TEAM
KOTA BELUD – An adult male Rough-Toothed Dolphin that was found washed ashore at Kampung Pintasan, near here on the night of Christmas Eve, had an eight-inch squid jig embedded in its stomach.
The multi-hooked jig caused severe trauma and other complications, said the Sabah Wildlife Department in a statement Monday.
“The dolphin died of septicaemia and starvation as it could not eat properly or digest its food,” said Dr Sen Nathan, Assistant Director of the Department.
“Our WRU (Wildlife Rescue Unit) team reached the site and brought the carcass to Kota Kinabalu for a post mortem and what we found out was quite sad,” said Dr Sen.
He added it is always sad to see such a beautiful marine wildlife lose its life due to human folly, even if it was indirectly done.
“I would like to also advice the general public that if they do come across these kind of marine mammal beaching in the future, do give SWD a call at 0128019289 or email us at [email protected],” he added.
Meanwhile, SWD director, Augustine Tuuga said they were alerted of the discovery of the fresh carcass by Ms Kristy Inus, a New Straits Times journalist.
“She said that there was a Facebook posting about this ill-fated dolphin beaching at Kampung Pintasan an we immediately dispatched our WRU to investigate and to find out what happened to the dolphin,” said Tuuga.
“Though it was Christmas Eve, WRU always has a team on standby to attend to these kind of cases,” he added.
