After a 20-hour rescue mission, a 65-foot whale that had beached in Chipa was finally towed back into the water. Recently, a massive whale got stranded in the city of Nigbo, south of Shanghai. There were fears that without being returned to the water in time, it would perish from dehydration. Despite breathing oxygen like land animals, whales need water to avoid overheating. Stranded whales also risk collapsing under their own weight or drowning if their blowhole is covered by high tide. Firefighters dispatched a rescue team, which sprayed water on the whale’s 65-foot body and built a pool of seawater to keep it alive. Volunteers aided in moving the whale, which weighed approximately tetops. The whale was dragged into shallow waters after the team tied it with guide ropes. A tugboat was deployed to help transport the whale further into the sea when the tide peaked around 10 p.m. The whale was released into deep waters after the rescue team broke the towline at 5:30 a.m. on Wednesday. Local media captured the rescue operations by authorities as well as the successful release of the creature.
