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Village in Savai'i butchers stranded whale

Small sections of a short-finned pilot whale, stranded at Fatuvalu, Safune, were all that was left when the Ministry of Natural Resource and Environment (MNRE) team arrived to investigate.When the Marine and Conservation team arrived on Thursday,portions of the whale had already been cut and parts of it were used for oil, while some eaten. Assistant Chief Executive Officer, Faleafaga Tony Tipama’a said all that was left was the head.But he strongly advised the community not to eat the whale. He said the finned pilot whale or scientifically called Globicephalamacrorhynchus which is in the family of dolphins, sometimes roams in polluted water and may be poisonous.“Judging from what was left of the whale, it is likely that it is an adult and was highly likely that it got stranded because it was sick.” Faleafaga said that the whale is commonly seen in Samoa and usually roams in large groups. Adult whales grow up to seven meters in length.