It’s a big fish, it’s a whale … nope, it’s a dolphin

Two firemen trying to help a stranded whale washed close to shore in Sabah's east coast Lahad Datu town.

KOTA KINABALU: The “big fish” that was stranded along the coast of Lahad Datu on Sunday is actually a dolphin and not a baby whale as reported earlier.

Sabah Wildlife Department director Augustine Tuuga said the dolphin, which may have been mistaken as a baby whale by rescuers due to its size, has yet to return to the open sea.

“We tried bringing it further from the shore on Sunday after it was spotted but it returned (to the shore) not long after,” he said on Monday.

He said the dolphin was spotted early in the morning and rescuers, including marine police and firemen, tried to bring it out to the open sea.

“However, it returned late in the evening,” Tuuga said, adding they found some minor injuries on the dolphin but were not sure how it got them.

He said rescuers would try to return the stranded dolphin to the open sea again on Monday.

He said apart from the minor injuries, the dolphin looked healthy and that efforts were being undertaken to send it off again.

“We hope it will return to where it belongs and not come up near the shore again,” Tuuga said.