HANOI, (Reuter) - Vietnamese villagers have buried a 6.5 tonne whale found wounded and drifting off the country's central coast.
Local official Nguyen Van Muoi said on Wednesday the 13.5 metre (45 ft) animal was spotted in coastal waters last week about 100 km (60 miles) south of Danang with gunshot wounds. The giant mammal died two hours after it was found and the local villagers buried it with traditional funeral rites.
"It was a very big ceremony, organised by the village elders. After three years, they'll recover the whale's bones for a shrine. That's the local tradition," he said by telephone.
Whales are revered in coastal Vietnam and are not hunted locally.
For further information on the Whale Temples of Vietnam, as well as references to the occurrence of the phenomenon elsewhere in Southeast and east Asia, contact Brian Smith, Fax:1-707-445-3645. Brian is lead author on a paper published in Vietnam and another in press in a special UNEP issue.