Leviathan’s demise: A boat passes the carcass of a whale as it is taken out to the ocean by an Indonesian Sea and Coast Guard vessel (unseen) off the coast of Bekasi, West Java. The whale’s body was taken to Thousand Island National Park, where it was submerged. JP/Ricky YudhistiraThe hard work and the tears of joy of volunteers and rescuers who thought they had succeeded in saving a stranded sperm whale beached off the northern coast of Tanjungpakis, in West Java’s Karawang, on Saturday, turned to tears of sorrow when the whale was found dead.



The carcass of the 12-meter animal was found by a fisherman in Muaragembong, Bekasi, West Java, on Sunday morning and the finding reported to the Muaragembong police precinct.



“The carcass smelled really bad. The skin on the back had peeled due to the sun, but we found no wounds,” said Gabby, a volunteer at the Jakarta A...