Sophia Michaels
Residents of Okpoama community in Brass Local Government Area of Bayelsa State have butchered a huge whale.
The dead whale was found by the seaside community and they wasted no time in devouring it.
The whale, measuring about 15 meters long and five meters wide at a height of about three meters, was dead when residents saw it on the beach on Wednesday morning.
It is believed to have come in with the high tide on Tuesday night and was left on the shore as the sea water receded at low tide.
A community source, Tarinyo Akono, told The PUNCH on Wednesday that “they are butchering the whale,” saying the people were using machetes, hacksaws, and axes to cut the animal to pieces.
Akono, a former state Chairman of the Nigeria Union of Journalists, Bayelsa State Council, who is an indigene of the area, said the whale was dead after being out of water throughout the night.
The youth president of Okpoama, Seiyefa Felix Ben-Basuo, who also spoke to our correspondent, said people were butchering the animal at the seaside.
Five years ago, in August 2019, a giant whale was stranded in the same seaside community and was butchered by the residents for food.
