Authorities Band Together to Pull Stranded Whale Back Out to Sea

It took some dirty feet and elbow grease to get a beached humpback whale back to sea.

Chinese authorities got their feet wet — literally — on Monday afternoon when a fisherman spotted a humpback whale that had become stranded on the shores of Qidong, a coastal city just north of Shanghai.

The fisherman, Yang Fagen, said he saw the beached whale covered with wounds while coming to the beach to fish at around noon. He called the authorities immediately.

When police arrived, a team spent the afternoon splashing water on the whale’s body to keep it alive.

Authorities determined the whale was about a 5- or 6-year-old humpback whale that measured about 24 feet long.

As the tide began to roll in around 5 p.m., rescuers were able to pull the whale back to sea using a boat.