"Residents of Bamboo Village, the beach side community where a dead whale was spotted last Wednesday, are still bubbling with the feast that the incident inspired, SAMUEL AWOYINFA writes
When Yoruba elders note in a proverb that the death of an elephant always leads to a display of assorted knives, they could have as well said the same thing about the death of a whale. After all, at 150,000 kg the whale is described as the biggest mammal on earth and can be 10 times bigger than an elephant, which weighs 7,000kg at full maturity.
Indeed, many residents of Bamboo Village and other neighbourhoods around Alpha Beach in Eti Osa Local Government Area of Lagos State proved this point on Wednesday when the ocean dumped a dead whale on the coastline. From all the cardinal points of the area and beyond, they pounced on the enormous creature; armed with cutlasses, axes, knives and other tools they felt they needed to collect huge chunks of the free meat.
And that was what appealed to them most: free meat. They never bothered to know whatever could have led to the death of the whale, or whether it was good for consumption.
Many people from different parts of the country and beyond have noted that the photographs of the scene of the incident, showing some people decimating it, especially as published on the front page of The PUNCH of Thursday, August 29, exuded a stunning spectacle.
'Who told you the whale was dead?'
Even if many outsiders are still wondering about what happened, for many Bamboo Village residents, the feast inspired by the death of the great whale is like that of a Christmas that comes more than once a year. Our correspondent's visit to the area on Saturday revealed that the feast is still in progress.
For Mrs. Iyabo Adio, one of the 'beneficiaries', for instance, her kitchen is still filled with the aroma and other relics of the whale. As far as she is concerned, there is nothing wrong in cooking with the oil she extracted from the dead mammal. She actually pooh-poohed our correspondent when he suggested that the carcass might not be suitable for consumption.
Adio, who spoke in Yoruba, said, "It depends on your belief. I have been cooking with the oil I got from the chunk I cut from the body of the whale since that Wednesday. I believe it has some medicinal content, which is beneficial to health.
"By the way, who confirmed to you that the whale was dead? As I said, I cut a large chunk from its huge body, and if you look over there, there is still a part remaining."
Adio further defended her action by making reference to those who eat dog and donkey/camel meat.
"Even students from the University of Lagos came here begging me to give them part of the chunk I cut from it, but I declined. There is nothing strange about eating the fish (sic). There are people who eat dog and donkey/camel meat. So, what's the fuss about?" she added.
Another resident of the village, who introduced himself as Samsudeen Johnson, said the settlement received a huge crowd on that Wednesday and the following day. He said in pidgin English, "E be like say our village now na whale village. People come from Ibadan, Akure and other places to see the big fish. "
Did Johnson also partake in cutting chunks of flesh from the dead whale? He said he had never seen such a 'strange fish' before and he did not know what killed it.
He explained, "Me, I no fit eat it o. The thing dey strange and I no know wetin kill am. The thing dey even smell."
The commercial motorcycle rider who took our correspondent to the village, Ibrahim Razak, also has a tale to tell about the whale. Razak claimed that he was one of those who first sighted it as it emerged on the beach front. But he thought it was a blanket.
He said, "But when it became stagnant and it refused to move, some of us began to move closer to it. We now discovered it was a big fish, which showed only its right side.
"The other parts of the body were buried in the depth of the sea. So, people only cut from only one side and towards the tail. Nobody could go into the belly of the sea."
But contrary to Razak's claim, the photographs showed that some people also cut the carcass from the head side.
Whale of myths
Among the Yoruba, it is believed that the whale comes ashore once every four years. On such an occasion, it shows a part of its body for those interested to cut and eat or use it for some other purposes.
A myth also has it that the fish harbours various kinds of meat, including those of birds, turkeys and goats, among others.
Adio also shares this belief, saying, "This is not the first time such a fish will come ashore. It happened about four years ago at Apese beach front, very close to Maroko. People went there to cut bits and pieces from it. And I believe that is why another one has come almost four years after.
"When I cut some parts, they looked like goat meat, whereas some others looked like turkey meat, a whale has all types of meat one can think of."
Another resident, Mr. Ahmed Abiodun, said the odour that pervaded the environment when the dead whale got ashore was offensive. He said the odour put him off, though he stressed that he saw people swoop on the mammal. According to him, some of those who did so told him that the meat and the bones could be used for charms and other spiritual purposes.
He said, "I overheard some elders say that the parts of the fish could be used for some juju preparations. But since I don't believe in such a thing, I kept my distance from the fish."
Another resident, Mr. Leo Akapo, said, "My friend went to cut from the fish, and he brought back some chunks. But to my surprise, after cooking it, the pieces shrank, leaving a lot of oil in the pot. I could not say whether he ate it or not, because I left his room shortly after."
When our correspondent requested to see the friend, Akapo said he had gone to work and would not be back until evening.
The whale has since disappeared
Akapo said the whale was later washed further down the shoreline towards a village known as Lafiaji. But on Thursday, it was totally out of view. He said, "Olokun (goddess of the sea) has finally taken the fish back to wherever it came from."
Despite the noise and the crowd which the coming of the whale generated, the residents told our correspondent that no government officials, either from the local, state or federal level, had visited to ask questions about it. Besides, no health official has told them the medical /health implication of eating or touching a dead whale.
Houses in Bamboo Village wear patched roofs, made with improvised materials, such as woods, nylons and roofing sheets. Save for only one or two wells in the community, which serve as a source of drinking and bathing water, there are no modern trappings of comfort.
Quick facts about whales
The Blue Whale is the largest known mammal that has ever lived, with a length of up to 105 feet and weight of 150 tons (150,000kg). That's the weight equivalent of 150 small cars!
oWhales are mammals, which means they need to come up for air, unlike fish which can breathe under water.
oMale whales are called bulls, and females are called cows. Their young are called calves.
oBaleen whales include humpback whales, right whales, blue whales, and fin whales. These are whales without teeth.
oFemale baleen whales are larger than males.
oHumpback whales are easy to tell apart by the markings on the underside of their tail fins. Each one has a unique pattern on his or her tail.
oHumpback whales only eat in summer, feeding off their fat reserves during the winter.
oOrcas, also known as killer whales, are some of the top predators in the marine world. They feed mostly on fish, but some hunt seals, sea lions, and walruses.
oSome cultures see whales as divine beings, such as in some places in Ghana and the Vietnamese, who occasionally hold funerals for beached whales.
Source: Google.com
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