The 10 meter juvenile sperm whale, which this morning ran aground a short distance from the beach of Monte Gordo he has already returned to the sea, with the help of volunteers and members of the lifeboat from Vila Real de Santo António.
The cetacean, of the species Physeter macrocephalus, was spotted on the beach at around 8:00 am, by elements of the triathlon team from Vila Real de Santo António, who turned out to be fundamental to saving the huge animal.
Tiago Cristo, one of the triathletes, explained that he spent hours in the water, with his companions, "fighting with the whale, because it looked like she wanted to come ashore." "We felt she was very scared, her breathing was very noisy," he added to Sul Informação.
Commander Pedro Palma, captain of the Port of Vila Real de Santo António, who coordinated the rescue operation for the cetacean, told our newspaper that the concern was “to return the animal to the ocean, without hurting it and swimming. A cetacean like this cannot be dragged in the sand, because it has a very fragile skin, it could be injured. So we had to keep it afloat and try to keep it away from the coast, but by swimming».
This ended up happening around 13:20 pm. The juvenile sperm whale was then accompanied by the lifeboat, to a safer distance from the coast, above all "to prevent it from trying to return to land," added commander Pedro Palma. Surveillance for the cetacean will continue for the next few hours.
The sperm whale or cacharréu (Physeter macrocephalus) is the largest toothed cetacean as well as the largest toothed animal in existence today. It measures up to 15 meters in length, in its adult phase.
Watch here the video of the whale rescue (authored by our reader Hugo Guerreiro):
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