Date: Oct 1, 1998 Kogia simus, 4 months old, Female, 212cm, 25kg, 14 days alive
Location: Seas Bay Beach Resort
Situation: At 9:50 am, Oct 1, 1998, two Kogia simuses beached in Seas Bay Beach Resort. The bigger female one soon died after it was rescued ashore. Professor Wang Chien-ping of Cheng Kung University was commissioned to perform necropsy on the dead whale, to know the cause of death. Under the care of rescuers and veterinary staff of our aquarium, the young whale was transferred to a marine lab of our Planning Bureau to be rescued. The whale received constant around the clock care and observation from a dedicated staff (our chairman and secretary included), but the efforts proved to be futile. It died 14 days later of respiratory failure. Samples were collected and preserved in Formalin solution in our museum. We fed the young whale milk replacer, which provided the right combination of nutrients. It was unprecedented in Taiwan.
Cause of Death: We suspected the whale to have had pneumonia, which led to failure of heart and lung.
Rescue teams:
Volunteers dedicated to attending stranded cetaceans from National Sun Yat-Sen University
the prominent rescue team from Kaohsiung City
Professor Wang Chien-ping from Department of Biology, National Cheng Kung University
Cetacean rescue team from the Planning Bureau of National Museum of Marine Biology and Aquarium