Residents of Okpoama kingdom in Brass Island, Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State, butchered a giant fish suspected to be a whale found washed ashore on the Okpoama beach area of the Atlantic Ocean on Wednesday morning.
It was learnt that the stranded fish was grounded on Tuesday night due to a low sea wave at the river bank.
Residents of the kingdom met the stranded whale on Wednesday morning and trooped out with machetes, hawk shaws and axes to butcher the fish, which appeared dead.
An indigene of the community and a former Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, NUJ, in Bayelsa State, Mr Tarinyo Akono, said the whale may have died after it got stranded due to a low tide on Tuesday, adding that if it was found alive, it could perhaps have been rescued and sent back to the sea.
The youth president of Okpoama community, Seiyefa Felix Ben-Basuo, also confirmed the incident, saying the people were still at the waterside butchering the animal because of its huge size.
The high tide from the river due to the rainy season might have brought the whale to the bank, where it was stranded. A similar giant whale got stranded at the same waterside and was also butchered by the residents in August 2019.
