KOTA KINABALU: Villagers at Kampung Gantisan in Sepanggar, about 20 kilometres from here, found a friendly ‘visitor’ yesterday.
The discovery was made by a teenager, who was only identified as Ikhwan, at around noon time.
“My friends and I were walking along the beach when we saw something dark and big swimming in the waters nearby the stony shore.
“Out of curiosity, we went closer and saw a big fish, but we were not so sure whether it was a whale or a dolphin. I also noticed that there were cuts marks on its body and snout before it swam back into the sea,” he said.
According to Ikhwan, the marine mammal was earlier found swimming close to some boats belonging to the villagers, hours before the authorities came for the rescue operation.
Meanwhile, Universiti Malaysia Sabah’s Marine Borneo Research Institute officer, Suhaimi Ahmad Ali, confirmed the discovery but they had yet to identify the marine mammal’s species.
He said a team from the research unit was rushed to the scene after receiving a call from the Sabah Fisheries Department at around 12.30 pm. The marine mammal was floating when we arrived at the scene and we also noticed cuts on its body.
“Rescue operation was hampered as the mammal kept swimming away. We even tried escorting it to deeper waters, but it kept returning to the same location where it was first found,” he said.
Suhaimi added that apart from their team, authorities from the wildlife and fisheries departments were also at the scene to monitor the situation.