Stranded sperm whale in China has slim chance of survival

An injured sperm whale has been left to die on a southern China coast after three days of efforts failed to guide it back to the ocean.

Fishery authorities of Shenzhen City in Guangdong Province received a report on Sunday of a 12-metre-long whale that was spotted trapped in fishing nets in the waters of Daya Bay.

After the whale was freed from the nets, authorities and zoologists tried to guide it back to the deep sea.

However, it continued to swim in shallow waters off Shenzhen and Huizhou cities and was confirmed to have been stranded near the wharf yesterday.

Experts speculated that, rather than being lost, the whale intentionally entered shallow waters due to its bad health, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

Over the past few days, the animal has been moving and breathing less.

Workers with the Daya Bay conservation zone said euthanasia is possible if its situation does not improve.

The sperm whale is the largest toothed whale and lives in pods.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)